The Last Eight Chapters: Naruto the True Ending
by ExNarutoFan
Summary: Ever wonder how the series might have been had the last eight chapters of the manga been written in a way consistent with most of the series? At last, I bring you a rewrite of the last eight chapters of the Naruto manga. Warning: This fic contains NaruSaku as well as a rewrite of the Naruto vs Sasuke battle (since I didn't like the original version). Interested readers read on!
1. Chapter 693: Sasuke's Decision

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

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**\- - -Sasuke's Decision - - -**

"The Sibling Rivalry ends here", Naruto declared, resolutely glaring in Sasuke's direction.

Hagoromo knew he could do nothing more than place his faith in Naruto's declaration. The old sage knew he had interfered enough in the realm of mortals. Despite his best efforts to change history, Sasuke was following the very same murderous path his son, Indra, had chosen. Now, it was up to the reincarnation of his son, Ashura, to protect the world.

"Very well. The rest is in your hands, Naruto!", the Sage of Six Paths exclaimed before finally fading from the world of the living.

Both Kakashi and Sakura gazed at Sasuke as if they were deer caught in the headlights. Neither could believe that the man who had just helped them defeat the all powerful Kaguya was fully intent on committing an act as evil as murdering the five leaders of the five hidden villages throughout the world.

Sasuke looked in Naruto's direction. "I am not your true enemy."

"No, you're not." The young jinchuriki said, releasing an exasperated sigh. "You're my friend and you're part of team seven. But I will not allow you to do anything to harm the leaf village, much less the world."

The sharingan wielder shook his head. "To truly protect the leaf village and the world, you must be willing to destroy them . . . or rather, the purpose they currently serve."

"Sasuke, you're talking about murdering the five kages", Naruto growled. "No good could ever come of that."

"And what if it could? You of all people know as well as I do that this world is full of endless hatred. What if all it took was one evil act to rid the world of that hatred?"

Sakura had been listening closely to the conversation between the two boys and had been clenching her fist and gritting her fists tighter and tighter at each passing moment.

"SASUKE!", the girl shouted, immediately catching both boys' attention. "Why do you always do this?"

The Uchiha warrior glared in the girl's direction, unmoved by her shouting.

"First, you left the leaf village and joined Orochimaru. Then you joined the Akatsuki. Now you're talking about murdering all of the kages. Why must you insist on falling lower and lower?

Naruto had a look of bewilderment on his face. In all the years he had known the pink haired medical ninja, he had never witnessed this much anger and rage from her before, especially towards Sasuke, the man she loved.

"Since you've left the village, can you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me you've gained anything with all of your hate and loneliness? You may have gotten stronger, but are you any happier? Don't you remember team 7? Your family? Can't you see the effect your decisions have had on all of us."

Tears quickly began flooding the female shinobi's eyes. "Sasuke, I love you with all of my heart. If you still have even an ounce of concern for me, I beg of you, don't do this."

A familiar smile manifested itself on the Uchiha's face. "You really are annoying."

Sakura quickly recalled hearing these words in the past, shortly before Sasuke left the village. Words he expressed before thanking her. For a moment, a sparkle of hope fluttered in the girl's heart.

"You have a lot of nerve asking me what I've gained. Look at you. A hopeless girl who trots around with fairy tale notions of true love. You've pursued me for 3 years, right? But what has all of your love gotten you?"

Sakura's heart sank as she heard these words. She wanted to respond, she wanted to show him he was wrong, she wanted to convince him to return with her back to the life they once shared. But despite this, she found herself unable to utter even a word.

The rogue ninja smirked knowingly. "That's what I thought."

Kakashi looked to Sakura. Despite losing his sharingan eye, he never had any trouble reading Naruto and Sakura. With just a glance, he could tell that Sakura was trying put on a tough front, but was considerably hurt by those last words from Sasuke, as if someone had just shattered her very soul. He wanted to scold Sasuke for belittling this girl's feelings. But based on the way she stood up to Sasuke just now, he could tell that doing this would more or less be treating her like some weak fragile girl incapable of defending herself. Sakura had come a long way after all.

Even still, she had raised an excellent point. One Kakashi intended to press. "That doesn't answer Sakura's question. What exactly have you gained these past 3 years?"

"I've gained something you all lack", Sasuke said, tapping his own forehead head with the tip of his index finger "I've gained clarity."

"Clarity?", Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Kakashi. Clarity. The ability to see that which is true. I've come to understand the true nature of the world. The world is full of hatred, far moreso than anyone realizes."

"_Sasuke . . . you're much different than you were the last time we crossed paths", _the silver haired jonin thought. _ "You were full of so much hatred last time, but now . . . it's as if your heart is a complete void."_

"But, the world has an inherent flaw. It can be manipulated by the acts of a few people. The fates of many can be determined by the choices of a few. Look at this war. It was started at the whims of Obito and Kabuto, but look at many people died fighting in it. Look at how many people have banded together as a result. Or consider the entire shinobi system. Look at how much has spawned from the decisions made by Hashirama and Madara alone."

"Sasuke, I asked you once and now I'll ask you again: What do you ultimately aim to achieve?"

"I aim to exploit this flaw once more; I aim to manipulate the world, but not towards some false dream, but towards a true reality. By my hand, I will manipulate the world towards true peace."

"And how will murdering the five kages do that?", Kakashi said with an inflection of disdain in his voice.

"The five kages are but a symbolic sacrifice. They are remnants of the old world and will soon die with it. By disposing of them, I will become the new world's hated enemy. The cycle of hatred will end at long last as all the hatred in the world will become focused on me."

A thought occurred to Sakura. One that appeared to render the lone Uchiha's plans meaningless. "But Sasuke, all of the villages have already banded together against a common enemy. You don't need to—"

"No", Kakashi interjected. "Right now, the five nations have indeed joined forces, but as of today, the entire reason for our joint efforts has already passed on to the afterlife."

"Making the peace we have now temporary at best", the pink haired kunoichi quickly realized.

"Precisely", Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.

"But that would go for you as well, Sasuke", Kakakshi retorted. "Even if you were to succeed in murdering the five kages, you'd die eventually, whether naturally or at the hands of someone seeking revenge. Even if your brand of peace were to come to fruition, it would eventually cease."

Sasuke, however, didn't appear alarmed by Kakashi's observation. "You forget, Kakashi. I have the rinnegan as well as the power of all nine tailed beast at my disposal. Once I unlock the full potential of my new assets, I will cheat death and insure that my will remains intact for the rest of time."

"None of that is going to happen, Sasuke", Naruto declared. "Did you forget? You still have me to contend with."

The Uchiha warrior calmly shifted his attention Naruto. "The last time we fought, we were able to look into each other hearts. And in your heart, I was able to see what you wanted to do; like I do now, you understood the hatred in the world and you sought to get rid of it."

"Yes", Naruto replied.

"Don't you see? To kill you would be a complete waste of the powers you've been given. Use the powers the sage has bestowed upon you and help me end the cycle of hatred. If this war has shown us anything, it's that when the two of us work together, we can accomplish anything we set our minds towards."

There was a hint of sorrow in the young jinchuriki's eyes. For three years, the boy had vigorously pursued his friend. No matter how low his friend fell or how much suffering he had to endure, he refused to let go of the bond they had shared. Now, the opportunity to rekindle that bond was right before him. Sasuke was finally acknowledging him. However, the boy knew in his heart that he could never accept the offer his friend was making to him without betraying everything he stood for.

"Sasuke . . . you said you wanted to be hokage, right? What does being hokage mean to you?"

"If you must know . . . the hokage is a true leader; he is one who puts all others above himself and will stop at nothing to protect his people; it is someone that can light the darkness that plagues all the villages; one that could go through all that and survive. When you look back in retrospect, up until the day he died, the true hokage of the leaf village was Itachi."

"Itachi?"

"My brother's life was what lead me to this answer I currently have. Everything in the name of protecting Konoha. For that, he chose to sacrifice his own family, his own clan and in the end, himself as well. I guess I could say that was the start of it all. Up until then, what exactly have we been protecting? Our predecessors once said a village is a place where families of all kinds of people gather together to avoid killing each other. They said it was for peace. Itachi chose to carry that burden all by himself. And I finally understand. He had to live in the darkness with his bitter experiences. The people treated him like a criminal, a traitor. He shouldered all these feelings by himself, but even so, chose to protect Konoha village from the shadows. It's someone like him that deserved the title of hokage, not someone chosen by the people, but rather one who will take that hatred without complaining. Like Itachi, I will become the true hokage. But I won't just protect the leaf; I'll protect the entire world."

The sorrow that was in Naruto eye's was quickly replaced with a scowl. "And do you think Itachi would support your plan to save the world?"

"But of course. He knew when sacrifices had to be made and never hesitated to make them."

"Then you're a fool and clearly don't understand a thing about Itachi."

Sasuke sighed, sensing the true meaning in Naruto's words. "So . . . in the end, it looks like I will trudge on alone after all. So be it"

"You should know my nindo by now, Sasuke."

"Very well, but you should know me by now as well", Sasuke responded, shifting his attention to the other two members of team seven. "I will do whatever it takes to protect the world and I will hold absolutely nothing back, especially against you, Naruto. "

Naruto gazed at Kakashi and Sakura. As much as he respected their abilities as shinobi, he was fully aware of the immeasurable gap there was between them and Sasuke. As confident as the blond haired leaf ninja was in his new powers, there was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be able to protect them and face his friend simultaneously. There was also no doubt in his mind that Sasuke was determined to defeat him at all costs.

Naruto shifted his attention back to Sasuke. "If that's the case, then lets go someplace else. You know what I'm talking about."

The lone Uchiha warrior chuckled to himself for a brief moment. "Fine, but only on the condition that we meet there 24 hours from now."

"_Naruto!", _Kurama screamed in Naruto's head. "_You're making a mistake_!"

Naruto instantly appeared inside the mental realm where he and Kurama usually exchanged words. "_What are you talking about_?"

"_If you accept Sasuke's deal, you will have no chance of beating him_!", the nine tailed fox growled. "_Mark my words, you have yet to see what Sasuke is fully capable of. With 24 hours, Sasuke has plenty of time to gain better control over his new powers. Combined with all the tailed beast at his disposal, and he will be next to unstoppable._"

"_And what are you saying I should do?_", Naruto snarled. "_Risk him killing Kakashi and Sakura or let him kill me while I'm protecting them_?"

"_You fool! Don't you get it? Sasuke is manipulating you. He knows compassion is your weakness. He knows that if you were to fight him right now, you'd have a much better chance against him_."

"_You might be right_", Naruto responded. "_But if I'm willing to sacrifice Kakashi and Sakura to beat him, how am I any better than he is for wanting to sacrifice the five kages_?

Kurama thought to himself for a moment, but couldn't muster an answer no matter how hard he tried. "_Fine. Do as you wish. But don't say I didn't warn you._"

Naruto, in his physical body, looked towards Sasuke. "I accept your condition."

Sasuke turned his back on Naruto and the rest of team seven and proceeded to begin walking away. "Then it's settled. Enjoy your last day of life, Naruto."

The leaf ninja watched his former teammate move off into the distance until he was swallowed by the horizon. Everything the hero of Konoha experienced over the past three years-all of the rigorous training, all of the dangerous fights, all of the people he had met, all of the lessons learned, all of the hopes and wishes that had been expressed-tomorrow, reality would finally produce the long awaited answer: What did it all mean?

"Sakura-chan, Kakashi sensei", Naruto said, looking at his two comrades. "It's time to go back to the leaf village."

. . .

_End of Chapter_

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**Author's Note: **My apologies if this chapter seemed a bit too similar to the original. I did include a number of differences for plot purposes and matters I will delve into in later chapters. All the same, I felt the original version of this chapter lacked in not really giving much explanation into the basis of Sasuke's new beliefs and that Sakura's big moment in the original was a tad bit weak for her character. She still cries in my version, but I'd like to think she comes off stronger here.

Also, I'll only be using honorifics in a limited capacty (i.e. Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan). Just a heads up!

Rest assured, every other chapter will bare little similarity to the original!


	2. Chapter 694: Prelude to the End

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

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**\- - -Prelude to the End - - -**

And so the three leaf village shinobi traversed back to the village hidden in the leaf. Fortunately for them, the distance between the battlefield they had been on and the village was within several hours free-running distance. Logically, it made sense to return there. After all, they had each been fighting in the fourth great shinobi war non-stop for the past three days. It was well understood between Sakura and Kakashi that the location Naruto and Sasuke would be fighting was roughly twenty kilometers south of the leaf village, thus making the leaf village the ideal location to rest before the upcoming battle.

"All done", Naruto cheerfully said, pulling the lid off of a steamy pot in his kitchen.

"Naruto, I know you're hungry, but do we have to eat at your house?", Sakura asked, repulsed by the group of flies hovering over the dirty dishes in a nearby sink.

"Usually, I would agree with you, Sakura", Kakashi remarked, sniffing the air. "But whatever is in that pot . . . actually smells good."

The young jinchuuriki gleefully grabbed three bowls and three pairs of chopsticks from his pantry and set them around a small nearby dining table. "Have a seat. Dinner will be out in a moment."

"He's a little too eager about this", Kakashi whispered to Sakura.

"Yeah . . . he's just making us dinner", Sakura whispered with bewilderment.

"You don't think he's trying to pull some kind of prank."

Sakura giggled and cracked her knuckles. "No . . . I'm sure he knows better."

At that moment, Naruto began filling the three bowls with the dish he had been preparing.

"Ramen?", Sakura noted, observing the contents of her bowl.

"Yep. I made it using my own secret recipe!", Naruto responded enthusiastically. "Try some!"

"Secret recipe?", Sakura said, with a look of skepticism. "Since when do you cook?"

"Even since Kakashi-sensei showed me that trick with my shadow clones a while back, I've been regularly having a few practice making ramen while I was busy doing other things."

"And by few, how many do you mean exactly?", Kakashi, now equally as skeptical as Sakura.

"Oh . . . not much", Naruto responded, scratching his head. "Just a couple of hundred"

Sakura lunged at Naruto and grabbed his collar. "A couple of hundred?! You mean to tell me of all the things you could be doing with that many shadowclones, you've been using them to make ramen?!"

"S-sakura-chan!", Naruto said, with a panic-stricken face. "It's not like I've been using them during battle or anything. Just taste some! Trust me, you'll like it!"

The pink haired medical ninja released Naruto from her grip. "Naruto, I swear, if this isn't good, I'll-"

With explosive speed, Naruto shoved a pair of chopsticks affixed with ramen into Sakura's mouth. After a few initial irritated bites, the expression on the girl's face went from pure anger to pure joy.

Sakura rapidly devoured everything in her bowl as if she hadn't eaten in months. "Naruto . . . this is . . . amazing."

A big cheerful grin appeared on the young man's face. "Thanks Sakura-chan!"

Pleased by Sakura's reaction to the food, Kakashi dipped a pair of chopsticks into his own bowl. Naruto and Sakura took note of this.

"Sakura-chan", Naruto whispered, playfully nudging his teammate with his elbow. "Don't look now, but Kakashi is about to EAT SOME RAMEN."

Sakura smiled deviously. "You're right. And Kakashi has never eaten ramen with his mask on, has he?"

Both shinobi watched their sensei with great delight as he began peeling away the mask the covering the lower half of his face. Just as he was about to peel away more than two inches, the leader of team seven came to a complete halt and looked in Sakura's direction.

"Sakura, what is that crawling on you?", Kakashi noted.

"Nice try Kakashi sensei, but you're not fooling us", Naruto responded. "You're going to have to take off that mask if you want to eat and we're not going to miss a single detail."

"Eeeeeeep!", Sakura shrieked. "GET IT OFF ME!"

Naruto quickly shifted his attention to Sakura, only to see a cockroach sitting peacefully on her chest. "Sakura-chan, I'll get it, hold still!"

And so began a high speed game of cat and mouse as Naruto tried to grab a hold of the unwanted pest that had disturbed the group's dinner. The boy tried frantically to catch the nasty beast, but barely missed it on each attempt. All the while, Sakura grew increasingly hysterical as the vermin sprinted all over her upper body.

"Gotcha!", Naruto exclaimed, feeling confident that he was about to capture this evasive pest. Unfortunately for him, at that very instant, the insect released Sakura from its grasp, dashing away to the refuge beneath the blond haired leaf ninja's refrigerator. Instead, Naruto found his hand on one of the soft and perky mounds on the medical ninja's chest.

Sakura's panic was all of the sudden replaced with rage. "NAAARRRRUUUTTOOOO!" Within a flash, Naruto found his entire head protruding outside of his house.

"All done", Kakashi said, placing his now empty bowl down on the table. "You were right, Sakura. That was delicious."

Sakura shifted her attention to Kakashi, immediately noticing that his mask was on. "You finished your ramen that fast?!"

Kakashi gave a look of innocence. "Like you, I was pretty hungry. Besides, the ramen was just that good."

"Sakura-chan", Naruto said, his voice muffled by the wall separating his head from the rest of his body. "Did you get a look at Kakashi? What does he look like? I gotta know"

The pink haired shinobi found herself unable to do anything more than bury her face into the palm of her hand. "Idiot."

Kakashi cleared his throat, as if to get the attention of his two students. "Now that that's out of the way, let's go on to more important matters."

Naruto unlodged himself from the nearby wall, shook his head to clear away the excess debris in his hair and took his seat at the table. "Sure Kakashi-sensei, what's up?"

Kakashi sternly looked the blond haired shinobi in the eyes "Your battle with Sasuke tomorrow, how do you plan to win?"

The boy thought about his sensei's question for a few moments, but couldn't think of a good answer. The boy sorrowfully looked down into his bowl of ramen. "I don't know; all I do know is that I have to win."

"I see . . . the last time you fought Sasuke, you made a prediction; you told us that if you and him were to fight to finish, you would both die; do you still believe that?"

"To be honest, I don't know that either. Sasuke and I have gotten a lot stronger since then."

"But if you had to make an honest assessment right now, what would it be?"

Naruto again took a few moments to give his sensei's question ample thought. This time, he had an answer, but it was filled with just as much sorrow as his previous answer. "In the best case scenario, we'd both die."

Sakura monstrously smashed her fist through the table. "So then don't fight him alone!"

Kakashi looked to Sakura. "It's not that simple."

"What do you mean 'it's not that simple'?!", the kunoichi snarled. "If the best case scenario is him dying on his own, then we should work as a team. I can't believe you, Kakashi-sensei. You were the one taught us about teamwork. That was our very first lesson and now you just want to send one of our teammates out on his own. And for what? Just so that in the very best case scenario, he dies."

"Sakura, you have to believe me. If I could help Naruto win this fight, I would."

"So then why don't you?!", Sakura yelled. "You don't even need to help him by yourself. If all three of us work together, we can stop Sasuke just liked we stopped Kaguya. So lets forget about all of this talk about Naruto fighting Sasuke on his own and spend the rest of the night coming up with a strategy to beat Sasuke."

"SAKURA, I TOLD YOU, IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE!", Kakashi yelled, showcasing anger he had never shown before.

"AND WHY NOT?!", Sakura furiously screamed.

"BECAUSE IF WE WENT ON THAT BATTLEFIELD WITH NARUTO TOMORROW, WE WOULD ONLY GET IN HIS WAY!"

It was upon hearing those last four words that caused the girl's rage to subside and be replaced with thoughts of doubt and worry. "Get . . . in his way?"

"Yes, Sakura, get in his way." The silver haired shinobi found himself regaining his composure. "The very reason Naruto proposed fighting Sasuke someplace else was because he had intended to use us against him. Sasuke knew that Naruto would prioritize our safety above his own if it came down to it. Sasuke also knows that with his current powers, he could crush either of us like flies. Naruto would never be able to defeat Sasuke with the two of us present."

Sakura frowned, looking down at the remains of the table she had just smashed "So that's all we are in the end, huh? Burdens to Naruto."

"Sakura-chan, that's not true, you're-"

"I'm sorry . . . I . . . need to go ", the female shinobi sorrowfully said before standing up and running out of the room.

Naruto stood up from his chair, preparing to pursue her. "Sakura-chan, wait . . ."

Kakashi immediately grabbed Naruto's arm. "No, let her go. Right now, we need to talk about what you plan on doing tomorrow"

Naruto shifted his attention back to Kakashi. "I already told you, I don't know how I'm going to beat Sasuke; I just have to beat Sasuke!"

"And why don't you know? Naruto, I want an honest answer; in both of your previous fights with Sasuke, did you have any intention of killing him?"

"No, I intended to bring him back to Konoha alive."

"But he had every intention of killing you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did. So what's your point, Kakashi-sensei?"

"My point is that you held back in both of your previous fights with him, didn't you?"

Naruto gave Kakashi a look of surprise. The young leaf ninja had given his previous encounters with his friend ample thought, but never before viewed his prior encounters in this manner. Even so, the obvious response to this new information did not escape him.

"So what if I did? What good does it do me if I have no intention of killing Sasuke?"

Kakashi sighed out of exasperation. "Naruto . . . you just told us that the best case scenario for your fight with Sasuke resulted in the both of you dying; meaning that you think there's a very good chance Sasuke is going to defeat you tomorrow. I understand that you want to bring Sasuke back, but is that really worth risking the possibility of Sasuke succeeding in his murderous plan?"

"No, Kakashi, it isn't. But I just cannot bring myself to abandon Sasuke."

"Naruto, listen to yourself. This is no longer simply about Sasuke. This is about the entire world. Suppose you and Sasuke do die. Who is going to break the seal on the eternal tsukiyomi? If Sasuke were the only one to die, Sakura could retrieve his rinnegan and implant it in my eye, thus enabling me to help you undo the seal. But if you're both dead, the world will forever remain bound inside that false dream."

"I thought about that", Naruto responded reassuringly. "The fact that Sasuke is willing to go ahead and kill me means there must be a way to break the seal without me being alive. And when you think about it, someone with access to the rinnegan and the chakra of all nine tailed beasts could do it. If Sasuke and I die, you should be able to do the same."

"That may be so, but is Sasuke really worth all this?"

Naruto sorrowfully glared at his teacher for a moments, but would not say anything. He then proceeded to walk towards the front door and, with his back turned to his sensei, said "I'm going to get some fresh air."

The silver haired jounin began to get up and leave Naruto's home as well, but not before spotting a photo of team seven held up by a magnet on the refrigerator. Memories of the bell test he issued to his three students all those years ago came flashing through his mind. The veteran shinobi held the photograph in his hand and smiled warmly at it as a single tear fell from his left eye. "Naruto, Sakura and even you, Sasuke, all I've ever wanted to do is protect you. If you all can ever find it in your hearts forgive me for failing to do that, please . . ."

**[. . . . . . .]**

The sun had long gone down and hours had passed since the three ninja's ended their discussion on such a bitter note and Sakura had returned to her house, finding herself unable to get past the fact that at least one of her teammates was going to die the next day. All the while, any effort the girl made to help Naruto would simply be her 'getting in his way' as Kakashi put it. Feeling helpless about the situation, she lied face down in her bed with her head buried in a pillow, not knowing what else to do. However, it was not long until Sakura heard the sound of knocking on her door.

"Come in!", Sakura yelled, knowing it could only be one of two people at the doorway.

The man at the doorway entered the room. "So this is where you've been for the past few hours?"

"Sensei, what are you doing here?," the female ninja asked, her face still buried in a pillow.

"I just want to apologize for what I said to you earlier."

"No Kakashi . . . I should be the one apologizing. You were right. If we were to help Naruto tomorrow, we would just get in the way. When you think about it, it makes sense. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I'm always useless to Naruto."

The veteran shinobi approached the pink haired kunoichi and rested one hand on her shoulder "Sakura, why do you suppose Naruto wanted to return to the leaf village and cook ramen for us?"

"To rest and be energized enough for his fight with Sasuke tomorrow."

"That's partially true, but there's another reason."

"And what's that?"

"Naruto does not know what's going to happen tomorrow and so in case he dies, he wanted his final hours to be peacefully spent with us. Sakura, do you understand what I'm telling you?"

The female ninja lifted her head from her pillow and looked Kakashi in the eyes. Her sensei, of course, was briefly taken back upon seeing his student's face. It was abundantly clear that she had been crying non-stop throughout the past several hours.

"That we both mean a great deal to him", Sakura responded. "But what difference does that make? You heard what Naruto told us. In the best case scenario, both he and Sasuke are going to die. And I can't do anything about that. Do you know how that makes me feel?

"Sakura, I understand how feel. In the end, I ended up losing both of my teammates without being able to do anything about it. Nonetheless, what kept me going and what keeps me going are thoughts of more pleasant times. Thoughts of my family. Thoughts of my students. Sakura, from here on out, I want you to think about one thing and nothing else."

"And what's that?", the girl asked, rubbing her eyes.

Kakashi smiled reassuringly. "I want you think about the thing that makes you the most happy."

The female ninja sighed, not seeing the point in this exercise. What good would thinking about Sasuke do for her at a time like this, she wondered. She nonetheless trusted her sensei's judgment and closed her eyes. There, in the blank state of her mind, she saw the outline of a boy standing before her. The outline slowly began to gain more shape and definition. It was a young ninja, 9 years old. The boy was heroic and charming even. He was every little girl's dream, Sakura thought. But then the boy began speaking.

"_Your name is Sakura Haruno, right_?", the boy asked, making a peace sign with his right hand. "_I'm gonna be hokage in a few years and the ladies are gonna be fightin' over me with sticks by then, so now's your chance to have at me before the competition gets too tough_."

"N-n-naruto?!" Sakura instantly opened her eyes at the thought of this, shocked by the image she just saw. "But . . . I don't understand . . . how can this be?"

"I honestly don't know", Kakashi answered, apparently just as confused as his student. "All I can say is that when your eyes were closed just now, the look on your face . . . why, it was the most blissful expression I had ever seen you make."

"This is . . . so confusing. I just don't know what to make of this. I'm in love with Sasuke, so why am I thinking of-"

Kakashi scratched his head. "Sakura, you are the only one in the world that can answer that question."

"I . . . I have to speak to Naruto. Where is he?"

**[. . . . . . .]**

The blond haired leaf ninja had been sitting alone on the swing tied to a tree outside of the leaf village ninja academy. Despite his bad memories in this particular setting, this place somehow seemed like the most peaceful place in the village. The boy sat there and gazed into the palm of his right hand, unable to get Kurama or Kakashi's words out of his mind.

"_I thought I was past all of this doubt_", Naruto thought, recalling the speech he gave at the end of his previous encounter with Sasuke. "_Back then, what I'd do when I met Sasuke again seemed so simple, but now that I'm actually about to fight him, it all feels . . . wrong. Is Kakashi actually right?"_

Before the boy could continue to ponder about his predicament, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bushes rustling nearby. The leaf ninja instinctively grabbed a kunai from his pouch and glared in the direction the noise was coming from.

"Easy Naruto, it's me", said a voice the boy knew all too well.

The young jinchuriki gave a look of surprise. "Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm just . . . doing some thinking", the boy expressed remorsefully. "

"It wouldn't by chance be about what you and Kakashi talked about earlier, would it?"

"Yeah . . ."

Sakura took note of the sadness in her friend's eyes. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Without saying anything, the boy shifted his body to the left side of the swing seat and the girl proceeded to sit on the remaining space in the right. For what felt like an eternity, the two sat in complete silence, gently rocking the swing back and forth. The silence however, was abruptly interrupted at the sounds of muffled laughter.

"Sakura-chan", the boy said, shifting his attention to his pink haired friend. "What's so funny?"

"It's just . . . sitting here takes me back to our days at the academy", the girl giggled. "Painting the hokage monuments, putting thumb-tacks in Iruka-sensei's chair . . . you really were quite the troublemaker back then."

Naruto began chuckling. "I guess I was wasn't I?"

"You had some pretty good pranks back then."

"But Sakura", Naruto replied with confusion. "I always thought you hated my pranks."

"No . . . I only pretended to hate them to look cool in front of Sasuke-kun" Sakura said, still giggling.

"R-really?", Naruto blushed.

"Remember that time you knocked a chalk brush into Kakashi's hair? It took everything I had to keep a straight face."

"Times really were different back then, weren't they?", Naruto smiled. "You and Ino used to compete over Sasuke all the time."

"We still do; it's just that we've gotten a little more civil with our competition."

"And your hair . . . it used to be longer."

"Oh that? Now that I think about, I guess I haven't let it grow out in years. Do you think it looks better grown out?"

"Yes . . . er- I mean . . . maybe!", the boy said, nervously rubbing the back of his head.

The pink haired shinobi smiled warmly. "I'll think about it."

A thought had just then occurred to the boy. One he couldn't help but share. "Sakura-chan, why did you cut your hair in the first place?"

Sakura looked at her friend quizzically. "Didn't I already tell you? Back during the chuunin exams, the forest was causing it to get in the way."

"Yeah, but you decided to keep it short after we left the forest too. Why?"

Sakura frowned, recalling the events of a day that transpired ages ago. "Naruto, you were unconscious at the time, so I guess it's no surprise that you didn't know. But when were in the forest, the sound three genin had tried to kill Sasuke while he was knocked out and I had to defend him by myself. One of them grabbed my hair at one point and I had no choice but to cut it to escape"

Naruto eyes grew wider in response to this revelation. He had known that Sasuke defeated the three sound ninjas, but wasn't aware of what took place beforehand. Guilt quickly poured into the boy's heart as he realized he had not been able to keep Sakura from falling into that dangerous position in the first place. "Sakura-chan, I'm sorry . . . I-"

"No, it's fine Naruto", the girl interrupted. "I'm the one who should be sorry. Time and time again, all I could do was watch you and Sasuke from behind. There, despite promising to myself otherwise, I was once again just dead weight to the two of you."

Naruto suddenly latched both of his hands on the female shinobi's shoulders and looked her sternly in the eyes. "Sakura-chan, what are you talking about?"

"Lets not kid ourselves, Naruto", Sakura said tearfully, shifting her eyes to the ground. "I've always tried to be as good as you and Sasuke, but no matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, no matter how far I think I've come, all of my efforts are always meaningless in the end. And tomorrow will be just another day where I'm forced to watch you throw yourself into danger while I sit back on the sidelines and cry like a little girl."

"Who are you?!", Naruto shouted, visibly frustrated by what he had just heard.

Sakura looked at her friend with perplexity. "Naruto, what are you-"

"No, I want to hear it from your own mouth!", Naruto interrupted. "Who are you?!"

"I'm Sakura Haruno."

"Really? Because you don't sound anything like her!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Sakura I know isn't dead weight. The Sakura I know is strong. The Sakura I know is smart. The Sakura I know has the kindest heart I've ever seen. The Sakura I know is a far better person than Sasuke or myself. The Sakura I know has protected me far more times than I've protected her. The Sakura I know always finds a way to make up for whatever she lacks. That's the Sakura I know. That's the Sakura I need. The Sakura you just described doesn't exist and never has!"

The pink haired kunoichi looked at her friend with awe, sensing no hint of pity or condensation in his voice. He meant every word and what's more . . . "_The Sakura he __**needs**__?_", the girl wondered.

"So I'll ask again!", Naruto shouted. "Who are you?!"

"_This feeling I'm having . . . something is pouring out-no, being unleashed. I don't know how to describe it, but . . . it feels so . . ." _The medical ninja clenched her fist and smiled proudly. "I AM SAKURA HARUNO!"

"You better believe it!", the young jinchuriki boastfully declared.

"_Thank you, Naruto_", the girl warmly thought. "_Now I know what I need to do."_

Sakura removed herself from the swing seat, grabbed one of Naruto's hands and gently pulled at it. "Stand up, Naruto; there's something I want to say."

The boy gently complied. "Sure thing, Sakura-chan. What's up?"

The female shinobi gave a warm affectionate smile. "Naruto, earlier I was hiding in the bushes, trying to think of a way to say this, but after what you told me just now, I know exactly what I need to say."

"_She looks so sweet and innocent all of the sudden_", Naruto blushed. "_What does she want to say?"_

"Naruto, the truth is . . . I . . ."

The boy continued to blush. "_Sakura-chan, are you trying to say what I think you're trying to say?."_

At that moment, however, Naruto felt an all too familiar fist bury itself in his left cheek and the boy felt his entire body fly in an all too familiar trajectory. Within a flash, he found himself several dozen feet away. And before him were multiple trees knocked over, each of which his body had apparently been slammed through moments ago.

"THINK YOU'RE AN IDIOT!", Sakura shouted, walking closer and closer to her comrade.

"S-sakura-chan", the leaf ninja said fearfully. "What did I do?" The boy looked into his friend's eyes though and saw an expression on her face of which he wasn't expecting. There were two different kinds of anger that the young Haruno girl would express. The kind she usually expressed to Naruto was one kind; a kind which was innocent and even harmless on some levels. Then there was the kind that was deeply serious; the kind she had expressed to Sasuke and Kakashi earlier. Naruto instantly realized he was dealing with the latter.

Sakura grabbed Naruto by his collar and sternly looked into his eyes the same way he had looked into hers before. "Now it's my turn to ask the question: Who are you?"

Naruto realized the seriousness in Sakura's composure and promptly answered "Naruto Uzamaki."

Sakura tightened her grip on the boy's collar. "What did Naruto Uzamaki promise me three years ago?"

"I promised to bring Sasuke back to you no matter what."

"And just how is Naruto Uzamaki going to bring Sasuke back if he dies or he and Sasuke die tomorrow?"

The blond headed leaf ninja's eyes widened at his teammate's words. For some reason, he couldn't tell why, but . . . it was if the doubt that had been paining him was being flushed down the proverbial drain. "I . . . um . . ."

"Honestly, I don't know why I never said anything about this before, but now it's going to be said!", Sakura snarled. "The Naruto I know is strong. The Naruto I know is courageous. The Naruto I know never gives up. The Naruto I know would never let silly things like odds or fate get in his way. The Naruto I know always finds a way to win. The Naruto I know keeps his promises. The Naruto I know stays true to his dream and the people he cares about. That's the Naruto I know. That's the Naruto I need. The Naruto who said he was willing to die with Sasuke? That Naruto doesn't exist. Understand?"

Sakura released her comrade from her grip as he began to arise from where he had fallen. "You're right, Sakura-chan. I . . . almost lost sight of what was important."

"Not so fast!", Sakura shouted. "I still haven't gotten the answer to my question. I want to hear it: Who are you?!"

Naruto smiled confidently and shouted in a way he hadn't shouted since the days of his youth! "I AM NARUTO UZAMAKI, THE NEXT HOKAGE!"

Sakura quickly retained the prideful expression she held earlier. "Damn right you are."

The blond haired leaf ninja suddenly gave the reminiscent nice guy pose he had three years ago. "Don't worry. I'll bring him back . . . tomorrow. That's a promise."

"Naruto, if you don't mind, I have one last selfish request to make of you." Sakura gave a heartfelt smile. "In addition to keeping your promise to bring Sasuke back, no matter what happens tomorrow-above all else, I want you to come back to me . . . alive."

The boy confidently pumped his fist and declared "It's a promise!"

Kurama, who had been following conversation closely, wasn't sure what to make of his host's recent declarations. "Naruto, have you already forgotten what I explained to you earlier? How are you going to face Sasuke as he is now?"

Naruto, appearing inside in the fox's realm, looked into the beasts eyes and gleefully grinned. "Kurama, we've some work to do tonight."

**[. . . . . . .]**

And so the long and eventful night had come and gone, only to be replaced by the day that would decide the fate of the world. Only now, there was something different about the leaf village's hero. Naruto awoke in the morning, chipper than ever before. He put on his trademark orange and black jumpsuit while humming a relaxing tune. He put on his headband while looking at himself reassuringly in his mirror. "Alright, it's now or never."

The blond haired leaf ninja proceeded to exit his house and leave the village. As he drew near the massive village gates, he couldn't help but notice Sakura leaning up against one of them.

"So you're going?", Sakura said, shifting her gaze to her friend.

Naruto nodded cheerfully. "I'll be all right now."

The young medical ninja picked up a box that had been sitting near her feet and proceeded to hand it to Naruto. "This is for you."

The boy wondered what Sakura was giving him and eagerly opened the box. As he removed the lid, his eyes widened with excitement. Within the box was a short-sleeved long white haori, closed in front by a thin, orange rope. The haori was decorated by red flame-like motifs on the edges. Most surprising was the haori's final feature; on the back of it, in vertical red kanji symbols were the words **Fourth Hokage. ** "This looks exactly like the one my dad was wearing earlier."

Sakura nodded her head. "Yes, it took me most of the night. Try it on."

Naruto slipped his arms into the haori and admired the feeling of wearing it. "This is so cool! But what's it for?"

Sakura pumped her fist with excitement. "If Sasuke is doing all of this because he wants to be hokage, then he should be reminded of what a real hokage stands for. So while you're fighting him today, wear that haori proudly!"

Before the girl could react, she found both of her teammates hands wrapped around her. The boy embraced the girl ever so tightly. "Sakura-chan . . . thank you."

Sakura, of course, found herself blushing uncontrollably. "_This feeling again . . ." _Naruto released the pink haired kunoichi and began to walk past the village gates. She looked into the boy's direction. "See you later."

Naruto casually waved one of his hands. "See you later."

"_No, there's still something I need to say", _Sakura thought. "Naruto, I-"

Kakashi suddenly appeared on the scene with a small bag in his hands "Naruto!"

"Kakashi-sensei!", Naruto exclaimed. "I wondered where you were at."

"This is my best gear", Kakashi said, handing the bag to his student. "It's not much, but take whatever you think you can make use of."

Naruto appeared to be confused. "Are you sure?

"Of course", the silver haired shinobi nodded. "I may not be able go with you to face Sasuke, but I'll help you in whatever way I can."

"Thanks", the young jinchuriki responded while sorting the contents of the bag into the spare compartments throughout his jumpsuit. "Well, I'm off."

With that, Naruto finally exited the village, with both his teammate and his sensei waving as he walked away, slowly fading into the distance.

Meanwhile, a single tear rolled down one of Sakura's cheeks as she smiled and watched from afar. "I couldn't . . . I couldn't say anything to him."

"That's okay. He'll be back." Kakashi placed one hand on the female medical ninja's shoulder. . "Then you can tell him whatever you want to tell him"

. . .

_End of Chapter_

* * *

**Author's Note: **I decided to add a "calm before the storm" chapter for a couple of reasons. **First**, I feel Naruto's whole past speech about "dying with Sasuke" is just out of character. This a guy who never gives up and he promised he'd bring Sasuke back to the village. Thus, I decided to clean up that nonsense in a way that makes sense in the story. **Second**, I feel Sakura needed a moment for her to finally start blossoming into the character she was always meant to be. IMO, the Sakura in the original chapte 693-700 simply isn't Sakura, so I am deviating from the canon and taking advantage of the potential we've seen throughout the manga. You'll notice the part about her laughing at Naruto's pranks. This was in chapter in chapter 3. Unfortunately, Kishi never bothered expounding or similar scenes.

The last exchange between Naruto and Sakura was inspired by a similar scene in the anime, Trigun, when Vash goes off to face Knives after parting with Merril. I loved that scene!

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to review!


	3. Chapter 695: A Duel Between Brothers I

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

**[Updated for a few edits and grammatical errors]**

* * *

**\- - -A Duel Between Brothers: Part One - - -**

For hours, Sasuke sat atop the giant carving of Madara Uchiha at the Valley of the End. His back was turned to the opposing statue, his eyes were closed shut and he did not budge an inch throughout the entire time he sat there. Hovering above the Uchiha, high up in the sky, were all nine tailed beast encased in the spherical satellite-like constructs he had created as a result of the chibaku tensei he had casted on the previous day.

Sasuke had been patiently awaiting the arrival of his one and only friend. If he were worried about the upcoming battle, he certainly showed no sign of it. It was not until he heard the sound of someone landing on the Hashirama Senju statue that he let out a faint smile and opened his eyes. "Was this last day meaningful for you, Naruto?"

The blond haired leaf ninja swiftly removed a kunai from one of his pockets and slipped into a fighting stance. A gust of wind swept past the area and the boy's newly crafted haori blew to the side like a flag, but Naruto stood firm, ever calm. An exuberant smile quickly formed on the boy's face. "Sure was."

The sharingan wielder, still with his back turned stood up from where he had been sitting. Unlike his rival, he did not adopt a battle stance. Instead, he placed one hand on the scabbard of his katana and one hand on its hilt. The wind had also been blowing at him, ruffling his clothes, but the proud uchiha warrior stood firm, ever calm.

A minute had passed since all of this had transpired and both boys stood still, as stationary as the two statues they had been standing on. There was no talk, no words, no eye glances exchanged; just silence. It was the calm before a great and terrible storm. And both ninjas waited eagerly for the precise moment at which that great and terrible storm would begin. Finally, as if nature itself had determined this moment, the sound of a small rock tumbling down a hill nearby was heard to great effect.

In that very instant, both boys' eyes widened resolutely and Naruto launched himself at Sasuke like a tiger pouncing its prey. Sasuke simultaneously unsheathed his sword and spun himself 90 degrees, still not facing Naruto directly. Before the young jinchuriki could connect a blow to his opponent with his kunai, Sasuke kicked Naruto in the stomach, knocking him off the Madara statue entirely and sending him down to the watery depths below. "Naïve", the sharingan wielder uttered nonchalantly.

At the same, however, another Naruto, presumably the real one, could be heard dashing in behind Sasuke with a rasengan in his right hand. Sasuke, showing no hint of surprise at this subterfuge, quickly shifted his body entirely to this Naruto's direction while a stream of electricity enveloped his sword. Using both hands, the Uchiha warrior performed a downward sword slash on his rival, only for the slash to be parried by Naruto's rasengan.

The clash lasted for several moments, but both attacks quickly dissipated, creating a shockwave that knocked both ninjas back. Due to their experience with these clashes, however, they were both able minimize the impact of the shockwave and regain their footing without falling off the Madara statue.

"It really is a shame, Naruto", Sasuke said, glaring at his rival. "To think with all the power fate has given you, you willfully choose to squander it on meaningless battles like these."

Naruto removed a kunai from one of his compartments and charged at his opponent, undeterred by his words. Sasuke reciprocated, but with his katana instead of a kunai. The two fought, exchanging a high-speed series of swipes and ripostes. Both shinobi were quite skilled, but neither could land a strike on the other. As the exchange continued, the two clashed once more, locking steel against steel, aggressively glaring at one another, attempting to overpower the other.

"Fate?", Naruto snarled, looking Sasuke in the eyes. "Don't talk to me about fate. For three years in a row, I couldn't even perform one of the most basic jutsus. I had to work hard every step of the way to get to where I am now."

Sasuke shoved Naruto away, breaking out the clash and getting out of his rival's reach. The sharingan wielder swiftly backflipped into the air while throwing shuriken in Naruto's direction simultaneously. The blonde headed leaf ninja responded by masterfully deflecting the shuriken away with his kunai, only to notice that Sasuke had leapt down to the watery depths below the Madara statue. Naruto gave chase, but upon reaching the depths of the valley, he noticed Sasuke standing on the water, at his lonesome, laughing uncontrollably.

"I had to get away for a moment", Sasuke said, barely able to control his laughter. "It's just that what you said just now is so ridiculous, so unbelievably idiotic, even I can't keep a straight face."

Naruto looked at his friend, confused but also curious. In all the years he had known him, Sasuke rarely smiled, much less laughed. "What are you talking about?"

"I knew you were a fool, but that is by far the most foolish thing you ever said. Don't talk to you about fate? You got to where you are by working hard? Just how dumb are you?" Sasuke retained his usual calm and cool demeanor. "Every single one of your achievements is owed to fate. You were given the power of the nine tailed fox at birth. You were born as the son of the Fourth Hokage. You were trained by a legendary sannin. And now you've been blessed with the powers of the Sage of Six Paths himself, yet you want to tell me that got your powers from hard work? What about Rock Lee? What about Neji Hyuuga? They worked harder than any of the genin ever did. What do they have to show for it? You and I are products of fate and nothing more."

"You're calling me stupid, but are saying crap like that?", Naruto growled, shaking his head dismissively. "Yeah, I had all of those advantages, but I was still at the bottom of my class. I still failed to save my friend from walking down a dark path. I still failed to save my teacher. And I still couldn't keep the girl I cherish the most from being unhappy. During the war, I couldn't even save Neji. When you look at my life, I've been a loser from the start, in spite of all the powers I was given."

Thoughts of Sakura, Kakashi and the rest of the leaf village instantly poured into Naruto's mind. The boy smiled, pumped his fist and said. "But you know what? I was able to move along and keep working hard because of the people around me. Whenever I stumbled, they would catch me. That's what I owe my successes to; fate never had anything to do with it."

Sasuke smiled. "As always, it seems talking to you is pointless. Let's just get this over with; I assume you're done warming up."

"Yeah", Naruto replied, cracking his knuckles. All of the sudden, a golden chakra cloak enveloped the leaf ninja's body. The light completely enveloped the haori Naruto was wearing and also formed a dark-colored bodysuit underneath that covered his torso, reached down his arms to the knuckles, and down his legs, stopping just above his sandals. His eyes were now yellow and his pupils were cross shaped. "I'm ready to kick your ass for real!"

The Uchiha warrior casually sheathed his sword back into its scabbard. The pupil in his right eye retained its crimson mangekyou sharingan form. Sasuke then glared upon Naruto with both his sharingan and rinnegan, projecting an otherworldly sense of coldness and death.

Naruto looked around and found himself tied to a cross in the middle of a blood soaked battlefield. The blond haired leaf ninja look around and saw the slain bodies of countless other leaf ninjas. To the left and right of him were two other crosses, one holding Sakura and one holding Kakashi, with Sasuke standing in close proximity to the latter.

The sharingan wielder grabbed a discarded spear off the ground and placed the tip of it firmly at Kakashi's neck. "This is the price you pay for being too weak not to severe your bonds, Naruto", Sasuke nonchalantly said before thrusting the spear through Kakashi's throat.

"SASUKEEEEEEE!." Naruto violently shook himself back and forth, trying desperately to break free of the cross he was tied to. Nevertheless, he was trapped and could do nothing but watch his murderous rival as he removed the spear from Kakashi and walked towards Sakura. "STOP IT, SASUKE!"

"The girl you cherish the most . . . am I right?", Sasuke nonchalantly said, now holding the spear at the tip of Sakura's neck.

"STOP IT NOOOOOW!", Naruto snarled.

The pink haired medical ninja began to speak up. "Can't you see, Naruto? You couldn't protect everyone-you couldn't protect me because you let your feelings for me get in the way. If you truly cared for me, you should've let me go a long time ago."

"Sakura . . . no, I-"

Sasuke thrusted the spear through Sakura's neck. "Yet another you couldn't save, because you chose to be weak.

Naruto looked at the scene with despair in his eyes. "No . . . how could this have happened?"

"_NARUTO, SNAP OUT OF IT_!", Kurama cried.

Within that instant, Naruto looked up and saw himself back at the valley of the end. He also saw Sasuke with the chidori in his left hand inches away from hitting his face. Using the enhanced senses and reflexes afforded to him by sage mode, the young jinchuriki leaped out of his adversary's way at the last second.

"_That was the close_", Kurama noted.

"_Too close_", Naruto responded after rubbing his right cheek and seeing a trickle of blood in the palm of his hand. "_I'm surprised Sasuke took his time with the chidori though. He could've finished me off instantly after casting the genjutsu."_

"_What are you talking about?"_, the fox replied. "_That's what he tried."_

The blond haired leaf ninja gave a look of surprise _"But that genjutsu . . . I was in there for at least 5 minutes_."

"_No, you were under its spell for three seconds at most! Fortunately, you have me as your partner. As long as I'm disturbing your chakra flow, he won't be able to manipulate it with his genjutsu."_

"_Right." _

Naruto, looking in Sasuke's direction, made a hinge sign with his hands, only for four identical versions of himself to poof next to him; two clones on Naruto's left and two clones on his right. The two clones on the leaf ninja's right ran towards the sharingan wielder, whereas the two on the left positioned themselves side by side in front of Naruto.

"_Use all the shadow clones you like, Naruto_", Sasuke thought, performing a complex series of handseals, ending with a tiger seal. "Fire Style: Hellfire Destruction!" A never before seen gargantuan fireball came flying out of the Uchiha warrior's mouth. But unlike previous iterations of this technique, black flames were wrapped around the orange flames; Sasuke had managed to combine the amaretsu with the grand fireball jutsu.

Before the two shadow clones charging towards Sasuke could avoid the flames, they were fully consumed by the terrifying might of Sasuke's attack. But that wasn't all; true to the amaretsu's unending longevity, the flames didn't stop there. The enormous fireball was still flying and was on the path to consuming the other two shadowclones and Naruto himself.

Naruto, however, appeared to be prepared. One of the two Narutos in front held out their hands. A rasengan with water like properties appeared in the first Naruto's hand. "Sage Art: Tsunami Style: Rasenshuriken!" This Naruto hurled its Rasenshuriken into the oncoming fireball's path. Just as the two jutsus collided, a thick capacious cloud of water vapor was released into the air; both attacks effectively canceled each other out. The second Naruto held out its hand. "Sage Art: Magnet Style: Rasenshuriken." The Second Naruto pitched his arm, preparing to hurl the attack in Sasuke's direction.

However, at that instant, the sharingan wielder appeared to teleport directly behind the original Naruto, with his katana once more enveloped in a stream of lightning. Before the blond headed leaf ninja could respond, much less mount a defense, he watched in horror at the sight of the upper half of Sasuke's lightning sword protruding through his chest. And so the goddess of victory smiled upon the Uchiha warrior that day. At long last, Sasuke had defeated . . . a shadowclone? The Naruto Sasuke had just stabbed poofed into thin air.

"_Not bad, kid", _Kurama thought. The tailed beast was impressed with Naruto's quick thinking. Thanks to the steam created from the clash of Naruto's tsunami style rasenshuriken and Sasuke's hellfire destruction, the young jinchuriki was afforded the brief opportunity to swap positions with one of his shadowclones. The boy was well familiar Sasuke's new ability to shift himself from one location to another and decided to anticipate a situation where his rival would make use of it.

The real Naruto was the one who looked like he was about to hurl the magnet rasenshuriken, only now he had spun around and was inches from hitting Sasuke with his new attack.

"_Got ya!_", the blond headed leaf ninja thought. This technique granted him the power to bind Sasuke and end this battle immediately. Victory was well within Naruto's grasp.

But Sasuke wasn't done just yet. Just before the magnet rasenshuriken could come into contact with his body, he jabbed his lightning enveloped katana into the water they were both standing on. "Chidori Current!" Bolts of electricity were instantly seen flying in every direction and Naruto winced in pain as he suddenly found his movements come to a sudden halt. Because the two were standing on water, the effects of sharingan wielder's technique were greatly amplified. So much so that the shadowclone that had thrown the tsunami style rasenshuriken poofed into thin air.

Sasuke used the temporary distraction to leap back several dozen yards out of Naruto's range. "Come forth, Susano'o."

A giant humanoid being comprised of a purple chakra cloak encased Sasuke's body. The being was fully cladded in armor akin to a samurai, wearing robes, thick boots and body armor on its waist and shoulders. The being possessed a set of wings stretched across its back. Lastly this being appeared to be holding a round ethereal shield in its left hand and an ethereal sake jar strapped to its left side much like the scabbard to a blade.

The blond headed leaf ninja, recovering from the barrage of electricity he had just been delayed by, looked upon the colossal chakra being in all of its glory. "Ready Kurama?" Within a flash, a full-scale translucent chakra replica of the nine-tailed fox encased Naruto's body; the boy was in tailed beast mode.

Sasuke, in his Susano'o stood still and gazed at his rival patiently. "The first move is yours, Naruto."

The young jinchuriki expressed a cocky smile. "Fine with me." Naruto stood in the Kurama replica's mouth and held out both of his hands in front of him. A black ball of chakra formed in front of his hands and grew bigger and bigger every passing second. "Tailed Beast Bomb!" The Kurama replica let out a mighty roar and with it, the black ball of chakra came firing out of its mouth and into Sasuke's vicinity.

The sharingan wielder's Susano'o responded by holding out the round ethereal shield it was carrying, intended to block the incoming chakra sphere. As the black ball of chakra hit the shield, it dissipated completely without so much as leaving a crack. Sasuke smirked with the utmost confidence. "Is that all?"

Naruto's cocky smile was quickly replaced by a scowl. "_Lets see how good you are with that shield up close and personal."_

Still in tailed beast mode, the leaf ninja dashed towards his rival's Susano'o, swiftly drawing near. The Susano'o, however, unsheathed an ethereal longsword from the gourd it was carrying and raised the blade into a striking stance. Naruto, of course, didn't seem deterred by his foe's otherworldly armaments. "_It'll take a lot more than that to beat me, Sasuke."_

"_NARUTO, STOP!_", Kurama frantically cried. "_DO NOT GET NEAR HIM_!"

The Kurama replica braced itself from getting any closer to the Susano'o's range. "_What's wrong?", _the young jinchuriki asked his partner telepathically.

"_I thought those weapons looked strange", _the fox responded. "_I don't know how, but that Uchiha brat has somehow acquired the fabled Yata Mirror and the Sword of Totsuka."_

Naruto scratched his head. "_So what's the big deal?_"

Kurama sighed. "_Listen Naruto_, _The Yata mirror is said to be able to negate any attack, spiritual or physical. It is also said that those who are stabbed by the Sword of Totsuka are drawn into the jar and trapped in a genjutsu-like world of drunken dreams for all eternity. Honestly, I always passed it off as a stupid human legend, but after seeing how easily Sasuke dissipated the tailed beast bomb, that has to be the explanation."_

The colossal Kurama replica stood on its hind legs and formed a hinge sign with its hands "_Then I'll have to attack him indirectly." _At that time, two shadow clones of the Kurama replica poofed out of thin air.

"_That jutsu again?" _Sasuke thought, looking upon his rival smugly. "_You really are a one trick pony, Naruto_."

One of the Kurama shadow clones ran towards Sasuke's Susano'o head on, intending to attack from the front. The other shadow clone circled around the rogue ninja's Susano'o and intended to attack from behind. The two clones moved in precise unison, each drawing closer and closer to their quarry.

But just before they could pounce on their intended target, the Susano'o turned 90 degrees to the right and bashed the shadow clone at the front of it with a swift and might blow from its shield. The gigantic humanoid being simultaneously slashed the other shadow clone with a one handed sideways thrust with the sword of Totsuka. The first clone received so much damage that it poofed into thin air whereas the second clone found itself being violently sucked into the Susano'o's gourd like an object caught in an all-powerful maelstrom.

At the exact moment this had transpired, the real Naruto was hovering above Sasuke's Susano'o with a black ball of chakra aiming at it below. "Tailed Beast Bomb!" A mass of chakra was yet against launched at the sharingan wielder. Sasuke nonchalantly looked up at the sight of the incoming blast before it reached him. The young jinchuriki smiled in relief as he watched the immediate sight of the uninterrupted blast. He didn't believe that his friend had perished nor did he desire for that to happen, but he was confident that this would injure Sasuke enough to turn the battle in his favor.

At least, that's what he believed until he noticed the sight of Sasuke's Susano'o hovering slightly above him. The Uchiha warrior had once again used his rinnegan's ability to manipulate space and time and his Sword of Totsuka was in striking position.

Sasuke coldly looked down upon his rival. "Die." With no hesitation, his Totsuka blade came sweeping down mercilessly.

_ . . ._

_End of Chapter_

* * *

**Author's Note:** This begins the first part of the fight rewrite. The fight itself will end in my version of Chapter 697.

**(1) **Many thanks for all the kind feedback. Due to all the kind words, I decided to upload this early!

**(2) **Perhaps some would think it best for me to skip the fight and head straight to the aftermath, but I feel that viewpoint, although understandable, is mistaken.

**First. **the problem with the original fight is that it doesn't really justify the outcome (Sasuke is suddenly a good guy again simply because he tied in a fight to the death with Naruto? I don't think so) and just doesn't live up to the great fights earlier in the series. It felt more like a DBZ fight than a contest between two full fledged elite shinobi. And so I try to make up for that by showcasing Naruto and Sasuke's new powers while at the same having each of them trying to best the other with strategy. **Second, **I felt that Kishi didn't bother using Sasuke to his full potential during that bout. He could've been a much greater threat than what we saw on screen. I try to accomplish this here. **Third, **I feel the fight itself could've been used as a means to bring things full circle and evoke some of the series' main themes. This will be a lot more apparent in my version of 697.

**(3) **I thank the angry Guest NH/SS fans who took the time to issue out death threats after I uploaded this story. Your comments were encouraging. It really says something when certain people get the ending they want, but are still angry (or rather, **salty** :P ) for _some reason!_ Hahaha.

**(4) **In response to one of the legitimate guest reviewers, I didn't like the actual original fight. I guess the powers showcased were okay, but it could've been a lot better.

**(5) **I've made a few edits. One of the reviewers noted that Naruto's high chakra reserves were not genetic. He is correct. I was thinking of the Uzumaki's longetivity. I have thus take out the original comment pertaining to this.

As to the other remarks, I feel the original canon supports what I've written. Naruto still has the chakra of the other tailed beasts, as noted in the original by Sasuke in 693, page 1, hence he should still have access to his new techniques. As to Sasuke using the yata mirror and sword of totsuka, Sasuke has Itachi's sharingan (remember, his original mangekyou sharingan was replaced by Obito). As to Sasuke teleporting, if you'll look at the original version of chapter 695, page 4 and 5, you'll notice that Sasuke is swapping places with remote space; he does the same thing here. As to the other matters (Sasuke's advantage, genjutsu, etc), that'll be addressed as the story progresses. Thanks for all the constructive criticism folks! Keep it coming! I'd like to keep the story as close to the original canon as possible.

As always, feel free to review and thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 696: A Duel Between Brothers II

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

* * *

**\- - -A Duel Between Brothers: Part Two - - -**

Sasuke's Totsuka blade was descending upon Naruto with the speed and ferocity of a lightning bolt. Worse yet, Sasuke had caught him completely off guard. The leaf ninja's defeat appeared to finally be at hand.

"_Shit. Too fast!"_

"_Naruto!", _Kurama screamed. "_Quickly! Change back into your human form."_

With no time to lose, Naruto, still in tailed beast mode, made a hinge sign with his paws. Sasuke's Totsuka blade was but millimeters away from touching the tailed beast Naruto when it suddenly vanished, only to be replaced by the humanoid Naruto. Sasuke's sword swept right through where the tailed beast construct had previously been located, hitting nothing but air.

"_Clever"_, Sasuke thought. "_But not enough."_

The Susano'o followed up with another shield bash with its yata mirror, only this time colliding with Naruto's real body as opposed to his tailed beast form. The blond haired leaf ninja instinctively shielded himself by crossing his arms. Even so, the instant he was hit with the yata mirror, his body was sent flying down, submerged very deep into the water below.

"_Never knew he could hit . . . that hard"_, Naruto thought, still descending into the depths beneath him at high speeds. The young jinchuriki maintained his best efforts not to lose consciousness due to the pain of the blow he had just taken as well as the accumulating pressure he was feeling as his body sunk lower and lower into the sea.

"_Can't pass out"_, the young jinchuriki thought, barely regaining his composure. "_Another blow like that and . . ."_

Sasuke, still hovering in the air with his Susano'o, formed a hinge seal with his sands. Suddenly, eight additional duplicates of himself within eight additional duplicates of the Susano'o appeared. Each of them were equipped with chakra bows and arrows. The eight Susano'o clones quickly spread out amongst the battlefield, as if to surround the area of water Naruto had just been plunged into. The real Sasuke remained in the same location, glaring intently at the vicinity of water his opponent had been plunged into.

Moments passed and bubbles appeared to rise to the surface of the water in the immediate. Within no time, the blond haired leaf ninja came flying out of the water like a missile launched into the air.

_"_Lightning style: Yasakani Sacred Jewel!" In absolute unison, all eight of Sasuke's shadow clones fired lightning arrows at Naruto's location. The leaf ninja watched the incoming assault like a deer caught in the headlights, but was unable to avoid the multiple attacks coming in multiple directions. Almost instantly, however, the boy poofed into a cloud of smoke, proving to be nothing more than a shadow clone.

The real Naruto, now hovering in the air, appeared to have leaped out of the water while the fake Naruto was being attacked.

"Didn't I already tell you, Naruto?", Sasuke asked, not alarmed by Naruto's deception. "That jutsu is useless against me."

"Looked like it worked just fine to me", Naruto cheekily retorted.

"I wouldn't be too sure", the sharingan warrior coldly remarked.

The leaf ninja immediately detected eight lightning arrows approaching him in eight different directions. Two from above. Two from below. Two from the front. Two from the back.

Relying on the reflexes and enhanced senses, Naruto barely avoided all eight arrows at the last second. "_That was close_. _I can tell just by looking at them . . .__ taking any of those head on is a bad idea._"

As the young jinchuriki attempted to catch his breath, he noticed that the arrows he had just avoided were curving back towards him in mid-flight and were yet again headed towards him.

Naruto eyes bulged in surprise, "_What the hell?"_

"These arrows will follow their target for eternity", Sasuke said. "Avoiding them is pointless."

Naruto quickly jetted himself into the water, hoping that the lightning arrows would short out upon coming in contact with liquid. But to his dismay, the arrows were unaffected by the change in environment and were still hot on his trail.

The blond haired leaf ninja then flew high into the air, leaving a sonic boom in his wake and traveling at hypersonic speeds. He had hoped that Sasuke's jutsu only worked at a limited range. However, just as he reached the thermosphere in the earth's atmosphere, he realized that the eight lightning arrows remained close behind him and were still keeping track of his movements.

Naruto proceeded to fly back to the battlefield, this time headed right in the real Sasuke's direction. The Uchiha warrior, through his Susano'o, lifted its Totsuka blade into a striking position. Right before the leaf ninja could get into his adversary's range, he jolted into a different direction. The arrows that had been following Naruto, however, did not avert their trajectories in time and all collided with the Susano'o. Multiple small explosion ensued on impact with each arrow.

The blond haired leaf ninja glared intently at the blast and its remains. He was fully anticipating that Sasuke was either badly damaged and/or that he would use his rinnegan's jutsu to launch a surprise attack again. Either way, Naruto was ready.

However, as the smoke cleared, Naruto was dumbfounded at what he saw. Sasuke and his Susano'o were in pristine condition; it was as if nothing had touched him whatsoever.

"_That's . . . impossible!"_, the leaf ninja thought with his mouth agape. "_Each of those arrows had enough concentrated chakra to fill the allied shinobi force_."

The Uchiha warrior took note of the dumbfounded look on his rival's face. "What's wrong, Naruto? Starting to realize how pointless this battle really is?"

Naruto aggressively shook his head, determined not to let his convictions falter. "No, I came here to win and this battle isn't going to end until I'm dragging your ass back to the leaf village."

A sinister look enveloped in Sasuke's eyes. The sharingan wielder, through his Susano'o, sheathed his Totsuka blade into its gourd. Then, he and his Susano'o weaved three handseals simultaneously. "Heavenly Obstacle: Clustering Stars!

Naruto immediately sensed nine extraterrestrial spheroid objects in the sky descending down towards the earth. As the leaf ninja continued to observe these objects, he determined that none of them would hit the battlefield, much less even come close to doing so. For a moment, he looked relieved.

"Looks like you still don't have control over your rinnegan", the young jinchuriki smugly noted.

Sasuke dismissed his opponent's sudden confidence as unfounded. "Take a good look at where those meteorites are headed, Naruto."

The leaf ninja carefully examined the meteorites' trajectory, only to overwhelmed by feelings of dread and panic as he realized what his rival was attempting to do.

"Sasuke, this is between you and me! This has nothing to do with them!"

"No, it does not", Sasuke responded, his expression nothing short of being cold and calculated. "Which is why you're going to stop those meteorites from obliterating the hidden village in the leaf."

"I fought you here on the condition that you'd leave them out of this!"

"They will remain out of this so long as you do your job and protect the village"

Naruto growled in frustration, but quickly realized anger wouldn't solve the problem before him. The meteorites were large enough to be seen from dozens of miles away and were all headed towards Konoha. The young jinchuriki had little time to act.

"_Ready partner?"_, the leaf ninja asked telepathically.

"_Like you even need to ask"_, Kurama responded.

Naruto once again entered tailed beast mode, with the chakra shroud Kurama letting out a terrifying howl upon appearing. The gigantic fox leaped atop the Madara statue , opened its mouth wide and aimed in the direction of the meteorites descending upon Konoha. A swirling mass of chakra began forming inside its mouth. The boy knew he only had one shot at saving his village; he would have to destroy all nine meteorites in one blast. His aim would have to be nothing less than perfect to hit such objects far off into the horizon.

"You've left yourself open", Sasuke remarked, seeking to advantage of the new distraction. "Lightning style: Yasakani Sacred Jewel!"

Once again, the eight Sasuke shadow clones surrounding the battlefield used their Susanoos to fire lightning arrows at the young jinchuriki. Naruto couldn't afford to move out of the way though. He had no choice but to keep focusing on aiming and gathering enough chakra for the nine meteorites in his sights. The lightning arrows all collided into his back, causing the young leaf ninja reel in immense pain.

"_Naruto, I'm doing everything I can to strengthen our chakra shroud, but we can't afford to take too many more hits like that."_

"_Just a little more time . . . just a little more"_, Naruto thought, remaining completely focused on his current objective.

Sasuke observed the sight of this, raising his hand much like a commander does before giving his soldiers permission to gun down a prison who has received a death sentence. "Lightning style: Yasakani Sacred Jewel"

Lightning arrows were yet again fired from multiple directions, each hitting Naruto with tremendous power and force. Naruto, in tailed beast form, simply clenched his claws against the Hashirama statue and braced himself for further damage, doing everything he could do to focus on his objective.

"_JUST . . . A LITTLE . . . MORE!"_

"So . . . you really aren't going to move, are you Naruto?", Sasuke asked, removing the Totsuka blade from its ethereal gourd. "Very well, then I will grant you a quick death."

Sasuke and his Susano'o flew towards its prey with its sword firmly held at a killing stroke.

**[. . . . . . .]**

Kakashi and Sakura, meanwhile, stood firsthand in Konoha. Hours had passed since Naruto had left to face their former comrade. Since then, Sakura had been standing patiently at the village gates, still watching the horizon Naruto had walked into as he left the village. However, as she continued to wait at the village gates, a shadow began to envelope her location and eventually the entire village. Sakura looked into the sky and gazed upon the nine meteorites quickly descending upon the village.

"Sasuke's Rinnegan", Kakashi speculated while approaching Sakura. "I never dreamed it would make him this powerful."

"Kakashi!", Sakura exclaimed, realizing the seriousness of their situation. "We can't let any of those hit the village!"

"Even if I had still had my sharingan, I'd at best be able to remove two of them with the kamui", the copycat ninja sighed. "But as it stands, there's nothing we can do."

"We've got to do something!", the medical ninja shouted. "Even if we manage to escape the village, there's no guarantee that the villagers ensnared by the infinite Tsukiyomi will survive."

"Sakura, don't forget the reason you've been standing at that gate for the past few hours."

The pink haired kunouchi quickly recalled the conversation she had with Naruto the night before. Naruto was going to bring Sasuke back to her that day, she thought, and she'd be there to greet him when he returned. She knew that nothing, not even nine meteorites crashing towards the village, was going to stop him.

The worried look on Sakura's face was quickly replaced by a warm smile. Even the sight of death itself couldn't overcome her feelings. "You're right, Kakashi. He never gives up. Even with odds like this, he won't go back on his word."

**[. . . . . . .]**

Sasuke's Susano'o swung its Totsuka blade at the young jinchuriki from behind, but the fight was far from over. Before the blade could touch Naruto's back, it came to a screeching halt. Sasuke closely inspected the scene to determine what was stopping his sword from touching his mortal adversary. It was . . . all nine tails of the nine tailed fox. Naruto had wrapped 5 tails around the Susano's sword hand and 4 tails around its shield hand.

"_Like hell I'm gonna let you do that_", Naruto thought, preparing to fire his tailed beast bomb.

"_Naruto, there's no time left, we've got to fire now!", _Kurama urged, sensing how close the meteorites were to hitting the leaf village.

With that, the tailed beast Naruto open its mouth wide. "Super Tailed Beast Bomb!"

A colossal black spherical swirling mass of chakra jettisoned out of the leaf ninja's mouth like a canon ball. The chakra mass flew in Konoha's direction faster than any attack Naruto had used before. Finally, it hit the meteorite in the center of the nine descending upon the leaf village, instantly creating an explosion with a blast radius wide enough swallow each and every extra terrasterial body.

It was an impressive sight to behold, but not one Sasuke appeared to be particularly interested in. Rather, the rogue ninja took the advantage of the tails latched onto him and began spinning his Susanoo around like a powerful tornado. Like a spinning top, he went round and round with Naruto at his mercy. It was not until several dozen revolutions that the Uchiha warrior used his momentum to hurl the tailed beast Naruto into the face of the Hashimaru statue, crumbling its head to pieces.

The leaf ninja once again returned to his humanoid form, slowly regaining his footing. "_Kurama, how much chakra do we have left?"_

"_Not much. That tailed beast bomb just now and the amount of chakra we used shrugging off Sasuke's attacks consumed a great deal of it."_

"_Damn"_, Naruto chuckled to himself, glaring at his unfazed opponent. "_He doesn't even look like he's broken a sweat yet, but here I am doing everything I can to keep myself from doubling over."_

"_I told you Naruto. That Uchiha brat was already formidable with the rinnegan alone, but with the power of all the tailed beast, he's almost unstoppable."_

Watching his rival before him, the leaf ninja immediately noticed something, almost as if a lightbulb clicked on in his head. "_Kurama, can you disturb my chakra flow and gather chakra at the same time?"_

The nine tailed fox scratched his head, uncertain what his partner was getting at. "_No. Why?"_

"_No matter what happens for the remainder of the fight, keep disturbing my chakra flow at all times_."

"_But what about our strategy?__"_

"_Sasuke's not giving me much of a choice at this point."_

The leaf ninja formed a hinge seal with his hands. With that, 100,000 Naruto clones appeared all throughout the valley.

Sasuke appeared to be surprised at the sight of this. "_Those clones . . . they weren't summoned just now", _the sharingan wielder astutely observed.

Indeed, each of every clone had been lying in wait in the form of pebbles, beetles, spider webs. algae and even specs of dirt.

"_No, he could not have done this while he was underwater or in the upper atmosphere. When did he . . ."_

Just then, the beginning of the battle flashed through Sasuke's mind. With particularity, he recalled the instant a shadowclone attacked him in an effort to give the real Naruto a chance to attack him from behind with a rasengan. The Uchiha warrior had easily dispatched the shadow clone with a single kick, sending it falling into the depths below the Madara and Hashirama monuments.

"_I see. The real diversion was not the shadow clone, but Naruto himself. He wanted me to knock the shadow clone off the cliff, so that it could amass all of those other clones while my attention was focused elsewhere. Even so . . ."_

Sasuke smirked confidently. "Whether its 100,000 shadow clones or 1,000,000, that jutsu won't work on me. You should have tried catching me by surprise if you were going to go through all that effort."

"_He has a point, Naruto", _Kurama chided.

"_Hey! Whose side are you on anyway?_

"_Hopefully the side that knows better than to get his ass kicked for the third time in a row."_

The young jinchuriki momentarily rolled his eyes and once again formed a hinge sign. In direct response to his movements, all 100,000 shadow clones poofed into thin air.

Sasuke squinted his eyes, annoyed and uncertain at his opponent's actions. "_What is he up to?"_

At that very moment, Naruto looked very sure of himself. The blond haired leaf ninja lowered his body into a 4 point stance, much like a sprinter at a track race. "All right, Sasuke, round 2."

"_What's he thinking taking me on without being in tailed beast form?"_, the sharingan wielder scoffed at his opponent_, _recalling that shield bash he had smashed him with earlier.

Naruto took a deep breath and calmly exhaled afterwards. "Omni Style: Yellow Flash!"

Sasuke watched the young jinchuriki closely, waiting for him to attack. However, before the rogue ninja had even realized it, his rival was gone, completely out of sight. Instead, all that remained was a small crater on the ground where he had been standing.

Sasuke looked around, left and right. "_Where did he go?"_

A few seconds had passed until the sharingan wielder noticed that one of his Susanoo clones had burst into a cloud of smoke much like all shadow clones when they are destroyed. The uchiha warrior was troubled by what he saw, not just because he didn't see anything, but that he didn't hear anything either. What's more, each of the Susanoo clones were individually fueled by an entire tailed beast's chakra reserves. Destroying them should not be this easy, no matter how powerful Naruto had become.

"_Has he somehow figured out a way to replicate Madara's limbo?"_, the rogue ninja thought, desperately searching for his adversary. "_No, I'd still be able to sense him with my rinnegan."_

Another Susano'o clone was destroyed in the same undetectable fashion as the first.

"_Dammnit, where is he?!"_

The sequence repeated itself again and again until there was one Susano'o clone remaining. Sasuke, however, was determined to keep his composure.

"_Calm down. I still have the advantage. Like always, assess the situation and adapt accordingly. It took him 35 seconds to destroy 7 clones. Therefore, he needs five _seconds_ to destroy a single clone. If I concentrate all of the tailed beast chakra into my Susano's defenses, it'll take him 45 seconds to destroy it, giving me ample time to catch him."_

Sasuke's last Susanoo' clone poofed into a smoke cloud and the leaf ninja's next target was more than clear. The Sharingan wielder immediately amplified his Susano'o with chakra from all nine tailed beast at his disposal. The chakra shroud surrounding the humanoid construct grew thicker and thicker.

"_To go after my clones first, his experience with this jutsu is definitely limited. __There's also the fact that he's only using this technique now, meaning there must be a reason he didn't use it from the start. There's gotta be a weakness I can exploit."_

In addition to amplifying his Susanoo's, the Uchiha warrior had poured his spare chakra into his mangekyou sharingan in an effort to amplify his visual acuity. There was clearly a limit to the rate at which he could do this, however, as blood was pouring from the lower eyelid of his right eye. As he did this, it appeared to him as if he was looking at two different realities. One reality was the reality he was accustomed to and the other was a reality in which time appeared to stand still; birds remained stationary in the air and water was no longer falling in the water fall.

Despite his advanced vision however, to Sasuke, Naruto, although visible, appeared to be a yellow blur; his movements still remained highly difficult to perceive.

"_That's fine, Naruto. Move as fast as you like. As long as I can see even a trace of you, you're mine."_

Using his right eye, Sasuke observed the young jinchuriki to the best of his ability. The blurred Naruto was practically dancing around Sasuke's Susanoo, striking its body at different points thousands of times per second. The rogue ninja, of course, was slowly adapting and preparing to coordinate a counter-attack.

As Sasuke watched his rival's moments, he quickly began to succumb to an unusual sensation. He placed a hand on his forehead like someone running a fever. "_What is this dizziness I'm feeling?"_

The sharingan wielder began to notice cracks forming all over the body of his Susanoo.

"_How is he - no, focus on the task at hand. Regardless of how he's doing it, he's doing it predictably. Therefore, I know where he'll be at the precise instant 44.00009 seconds have passed."_

And so it went, with Naruto about to pass over the Susanoo's right shoulder around the time Sasuke estimated. At that instant, Sasuke's eyes boldened with determination and his Susanoo thrusted its Totsuka in Naruto's direction. Right at the 44.00009 second mark, the blade intercepted the yellow blur, much like an expert dart thrower impaling a fly in mid-air. The rogue ninja's target was sucked into the Totsuka blade and then sealed in the gourd on the Susanoo's side.

At that moment, the cracks on the Susanoo grew even bigger, with Sasuke deeply puzzled at the cause of this phenomena, until the truth struck him harder than any blunt object ever could. A yellow blur once again appeared before the sharingan wielder, as if to continue the work of the former.

"_A shadow clone? I see, then he must've-"_

As 45 seconds had finally passed, Sasuke's Susanoo shattered into thousands of pieces much like glass china upon hitting the ground. No longer having something to propel him in the air, the young Uchiha was left free-falling down to the water beneath him. Naruto, of course, wasn't going to let an opportunity like this like this slip out of his fingers. He flew towards Sasuke preparing to end the battle in one fell swoop. Nine tailed beast or not, without the Susanoo or a chakra shroud protecting him, his real body was very much vulnerable to attacks.

Approaching the Uchiha warrior, Naruto noticed that Sasuke's hands were stretched out in a pose he had seen in a battle weeks ago. Cautious, the leaf ninja stopped in his tracks mid-flight.

"Nine Gates of Hell: Almighty Push!", Sasuke exclaimed.

A ball of black flames unlike any ever seen before instantly surrounded Sasuke, only to rapidly expand at speeds rivaling Naruto's. The leaf ninja responded by quickly jetting backwards at the blurring speeds he had used to destroy Sasukes Susanoo. It wasn't until he was over a thousand feet out of Sasuke's range that the black flames had vanished.

"_I can't believe Sasuke's been hiding a jutsu like that.", _Naruto thought, rubbing away the sweat that had accumulated on his face.

"_It looks like he found a way to combine his Amaterasu with Nagato's almighty push. The air pressure appears to multiply the strength and speed of the flames"_, Kurama surmised.

"_Sasuke always has something up his sleeve. Especially now, I can't underestimate him for even a second."_

"_By the way, how did you destroy all of Sasuke's Susanoo's?"_

"_For the first 20 minutes of the fight, I had all of my shadow clones study Sasuke's every move. Every time he used the Susano'o, whether he attacked or was attacked, the clones noticed a slight flicker in his eyes. When the observations of all 100,000 clones came back to me, I realized the Susanoo's weakness: Everything it does requires concentration; the more the Susannoo is doing, the more concentration it needs."_

"_I see. So you broke his concentration using your new technique to overwhelm him. That's also probably the reason he wasn't able to notice the shadow clone you created"_

"_Yeah, but that pain in my chest is back and it's a million times worse than last time and its getting harder to breathe."_

"_You can't let Sasuke notice anything. One mistake and the plan will fall apart."_

"_I know . . ."_

Sasuke was now standing atop the water at the valley's depths. He looked up at Naruto with disdain in his eyes.

"_Damn you, Naruto. I had hoped not to have to rely on the rinnegan too much during this fight. I still haven't had enough time to experiment with it and its limitations are too debilitating for my taste."_

Naruto dropped down to the water Sasuke was standing on, but stood outside the range of Sasuke's technique. He once more took on the sprinting stance he was previously in before using his new technique. "Omni Style: Yellow Flash!"

The blond haired leaf ninja once again disappeared and the water beneath looked as if a large rock had been hurled into it. At the same time, Sasuke released his new jutsu, with black flames yet again pouring around him on all sides. Naruto jetted himself into the air precisely outside the range of the black flames, then instantly launched himself back down, heading towards the rogue ninja.

However, the young jinchuriki was startled as another sea of black flames came hurling towards him mid-flight. He once again jetted himself out of range, but barely.

"_Not this time, Naruto"_, Sasuke thought, observing the yellow blur before him with his mangekyou sharigan. "_You gave me far too much time to get used to your movement patterns while using that jutsu. And in feeling the need to use shadow clone to avoid getting hit by my Totsuka blade, you've confirmed that you don't have full control over yourself in that state. That'll be your undoing."_

"_His time lag is nothing like Nagato's; it's much smaller", _Naruto thought, continuing the dance, moving at all times while barely slipping out of Sasuke's radius with each blast.

"I_ can keep this up for hours if I want. Can you, Naruto_?" Sasuke thought, continuing to fan his flames at a rapid pace, showing no sign of exhaustion.

After five minutes of this routine, the yellow blur slowly began to ease itself closer while avoiding each passing flame. It hopped in an out of the rogue's range at every passing nanosecond.

"_The time lag may be almost unnoticeable, but I'm gotten the hang of it. Just a little closer."_

Finally, Naruto was but one hop away from striking Sasuke before his almighty push could activate. As the yellow blur was about to pounce, a sea of Amaterasu flames burst out from Sasuke's vicinity much faster than any of the previous bursts.

"_Just by pouring more chakra into my fingertips, the speed and power of my Nine Gates of Hell can reach even greater heights at the cost of a longer recharge time. You were a fool to think you could get this close without me allowing it to happen."_

The omnidirectional flames hastily approached the yellow blur. _"Damnit. No choice!"_

Suddenly, the intensity of the yellow blur in Sasuke's sights magnified and it quickly zipped outside of Sasuke's range at speeds faster than any it had previously shown. It then instantly fired itself at the Uchiha warrior, smashing into him head on and sending his body flying like a ragdoll far up into the air and right into the face of the Madara monument.

Naruto's body immediately came to a halt. The leaf ninja stood firmly on the water surrounding him, breathing heavily while clutching his chest with an excruciating expression on his face.

Sasuke found himself a bit dazed and quickly realized that he was laying in the remains of the partially crumbled Madara statue; like the Hashirama head, the Madara head crumbled into pieces upon impact. Fortunately for him, he had managed to cushion himself from Naruto's attack with pieces of the Susanoo shielding his body, much like he had done in his battle against the Raikage.

"_This doesn't make sense!", _Sasuke snarled._ "If he could increase his speed like that at will, why did he use a shadow clone to avoid being impaled by my Susanoo earlier? Was he just toying with me? Maybe I could just bait him with meteorites again. No. That last attack of his was too close. I can't afford to keep making assumptions about his ability. I've got no choice but to rely on my last resort."_

Still reeling in pain, Naruto glared up at the remains of the Madara statue's head.. "_I guess I shouldn't be surprised he'd be able make me resort to that. This is Sasuke after all."_

"_Naruto!", _Kurama growled. "_Stand up straight and keep your composure. If Sasuke sees you as you are, then everything leading up to this moment was for nothing."_

Naruto nodded his head and stood perfectly still with hands at his side, doing his best to ignore the tremendous pain he was feeling in his chest.

Just then, Sasuke's Susanoo appeared at the top of the partially destroyed Madara statue. The humanoid chakra construct then spread out its wings and flew high up into the air. Naruto observed his adversary carefully, making sure not to reveal his current physical condition.

"I have to give you credit, Naruto. When I planned out the details of this battle yesterday, I didn't think there was remotely any real chance that you would end up pushing me this far" the rogue ninja bluntly remarked from up-high.

"Really? Then you're gonna be in for the shock of your life when I'm dragging your ass back to the hidden leaf village!"

"All jokes aside, I welcome you to dodge this next attack . . . if you can. But even if I miss you, everything in the land of fire, including the hidden leaf village, will be vaporized right down to the bedrock on which it stands."

"You said you wanted to protect everybody.", Naruto snarled. "What you're doing is just mass-murder."

"I told you, didn't I? To truly protect the leaf village and the world, you must be willing to destroy them. If I have to destroy a country to destroy the one obstacle standing in the way of world peace, I will not hesitate to do so. This land's departure will mark the beginning of new generation free from the never-ending shackles of the accursed shinobi system."

With that, a longbow and arrow composed of pure chakra materialized in the Susanoo's hands and it aimed its' weapon squarely at the young jinchuriki. The arrow itself became enveloped in lightning, red in color. Meanwhile, streams of chakra from all nine tailed beast could physically been seen violently pouring into the Susanoo's arrow.

Naruto held out the palm of his right hand and glared attentively at it, only for his rasengan to manifest itself.

"You must've lost more chakra than I thought if an ordinary rasengan is all you've got to threaten me with", the sharingan wielder noted.

"Let's just see about that", Naruto retorted.

"_It doesn't matter what you've got planned, Naruto. You've lost well over 90% of your chakra throughout this fight and I'm certain you've realized why it'd be foolish to try and have your tailed beast gather more chakra for you. Meanwhile, I have the power of all nine tailed beast at my disposal. My chakra reserves are far beyond yours. And now, I'll use every ounce of them to crush you and everyone in this country. But you could've won. Or rather, you might've been able to change the outcome of this battle. If it were Itachi I were facing, he would've respected the hopelessness of this situation and used your new-found speed to escape the land of fire and then return after I've decimated it. At that point, I'll have very little chakra left, much less enough to continue siphoning chakra from the tailed beasts; I would have no way to contend with him. But you won't do that. No. Like you, he loved the world too, but was prepared to make sacrifices when necessary for the greater good. You're nothing like Itachi; you're weak. You'd rather die trying than live on with even one failure. You did well to get this far, but this is the end for you."_

Five chakra shrouded arms then emerged from the young jinchuriki's back. Each of the hands appeared to be enveloped with a different element: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning and Earth. All five arms latched themselves around Naruto's right hand, forming an air tight barrier. The blond haired leaf ninja gritted his teeth in response to some apparent discomfort, but disregarded the sensation he was experiencing.

The chakra arms released themselves from Naruto's right hand and dissipated afterwards. The leaf ninja's hand was soaked with blood. What remained of the rasengan itself was not the rasengan, but rather a sphere of blue chakra at least ten times larger. It also had throwing star like-blades, much like the rasen-shuriken. However, unlike any other technique the young jinchuriki had showcased, this technique appeared to have two layers on the energy. On the outside layer and on the shuriken like spikes, there was a clear blue mass of chakra. However, on the inner layer there was a separate unsettling swirling black mass of chakra.

Sasuke looked down at his adversary as he prepared to fire at him. "_It's as if time and space itself are fluctuating around him._"

"_Alright, I'm only going to get one shot at this.", _Naruto thought, preparing to engage his rival yet again.

Sasuke's Susanoo drew its red lightning arrow as far back as its chakra longbow would allow, only to release it completely. "INDRA'S ARROW!"

Naruto hurled the orb of chakra in his hand with all of his might. "OMNI STYLE: RASENSHURIKEN!"

Both attacks were fiercely sent flying at each other, only to violently clash within the blink of an eye. The instant the two techniques slammed into each other, sparks flew throughout the valley, the ground had begun shaking. Then, without pause, a thick blinding bright light enveloped everything in the valley.

_. . ._

_End of Chapter_

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**Author's Note:**

**(1)** I included more techniques not seen in the manga. This is to illustrate techniques Sasuke and Naruto may have been able to create with more time to study their new powers. The "omni release" is something I made up entirely, but has a specific function storywise, so don't think I'm just throwing things in here, hahaha. Also, during Naruto's earliest appearances during the war, he had the ability to move even faster than the raikage. However, as the war progressed, he somehow forgot he had the ability to move this fast. I've decided to address this by providing a reason he stopped using this new speed. Alas, you'll have to wait for a full explanation!

**(2) **Sasuke is fairly powerful. As one reviewer noted, this is a fight Naruto logically doesn't stand the chance. Nonetheless, he can win and that's all I'll say for now!

**(3) **Lots of constructive criticisms. Appreciate those. I'd like to keep this story as close to the canon as possible. I've addressed some of them by posting in the review section, but I will cease doing that from this point out.

**Regarding the Infinite Tsukiyomi (IT): ** I reread all the chapters from Kaguya's debut appearance up to chapter 700 and there is no indication whatsoever that everyone in the IT is in immediate peril, just that they would eventually be siphoned of their chakra. You'll notice that no one objects to Naruto and Sasuke running off to who knows where to fight in light of the possibility that people inside the IT will be immediately turned into white zetsus. I have difficulty believing it was of concern. You'll notice that Sasuke and Naruto do not break the seal until after they are healed by Sakura, which is on the following day. If they have the time and convenience to wait for Kakashi and Sakura to not only come find them, but heal them as well, then I'd say Kishi didn't think time was of the essence.

Of course, there's also something else to consider. Kaguya had already been sealed anyway. She was needed as a catalyst for the jutsu to work in the first place. Who is to say that it is still siphoning chakra without her being present? I doubt it, especially given the points above. As such, I think my liberties here are excusable. Truth is, this wasn't something Kishi fleshed out enough to be rigorously discussed in the first place, but that's just my two cents! :P

**Regarding alleged OOC interactions and plot holes: **

_Sasuke is too evil: _No more than 80 chapters ago, Kishi had Sasuke planning to kill the entire leaf village. The only difference now and then is that he wants to murder the five kages. Perhaps one considered him sadistic and ludicrous for hundreds of chapters of now, but I'm writing him in accordance to canon. I'm not overlooking past developments in the character, whether I agree with them or not. Sasuke's goals may have changed, but his willingness to murder and otherwise resort to acts of sadism has not. He will do whatever it takes to get results. At one point, he was even willing to let Orochimaru take his body in order to secure his revenge against Itachi. This is simply who he is and the reason he had to be "pardoned" from his crimes in the original.

_Naruto eating ramen at a time like this: _I think one might've taken issue with Naruto throughout the entirety of the manga if they are frustrated about this. This is a guy who has always eaten soup with his friends while the world is in danger. During the Zabuza arc, he was acting like a knucklehead even though the group was being pursued by a dangerous assassin. During the Chuunin exam arc, he was behaving like a knucklehead even while in the forest of the death. While on the battlefield during the 4th Great Shinobi War, he was making knucklehead comments around Sasuke and Sakura like the "good old days." Naruto has the capacity to recognize the seriousness of a situation, but even in times of peril, unless he's in the middle of a fight or he's just been given terrible news, he is still Naruto. This is simply who the character is and I'm committed to keeping him in character. Besides, I even went on to provide a reason for him "eating soup with his buds"; he doesn't know whether he's going to win the fight with Sasuke, so he's enjoying his final moments with his friends just in case he fails. I think that's perfectly reasonable on the character's part.

_Sakura's "identity crisis": _Sakura has had personal issues throughout the entire manga and has even contended with them while on the battlefield. In the actual manga, you have Sakura worrying about Sasuke's rude comments while they're in the middle of fighting Madara. That's part of her character. Perhaps one would take issue with the character entirely. I can't say. What I will say is that people don't just magically reach a point where they no longer have personal problems. I don't ever envision there being a point like that for Naruto or Sakura, which is why they can simply turn to the other for support when they've stumbled. Heaven and earth, people! ;)

_What the heck was Sasuke doing the last 24 hours: _I had the kyuubi answer this exact question in the first chapter. He was gaining better control over his abilities, hence the new techniques he has access to. Even during the actual fight in the original manga, lack of control was a reason posited for why he couldn't get the better of Naruto (recall the end when he absords Naruto's chakra).

_Why the heck is Sasuke talking about Neji/Lee/etc: _I covered this in the chapter and will go into additional detail about it in a later chapter, but it's a matter of him and Naruto having opposing beliefs and will play a role in getting him to change his beliefs. Simultaneously, it's an effort to bring things full circle. Don't worry. I've got it covered! ;)

_Why are Naruto and Sasuke so powerful? I thought you wanted to make this a fight between two ninjas rather than a fight between Goku and Vegeta: _I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the nature of the fight. It's a fight between two ninja, but I can't ignore the new powers Kishi has given the two characters. Sorry. Besides, I'd like to think the layer of strategy I've offered here makes up for the lack of strategy in the original version of this bout.

_Naruto holding back against Sasuke? That's weird! And Naruto ain't gonna listen to anyone trying to talk him out of saving Sasuke: _I don't think Naruto holding back against Sasuke is weird. Naruto was trying to bring Sasuke back to the village; Sasuke was trying to kill him. And yeah, Naruto won't listen, which is why he left the room in the chapter.

_Wasn't Sasuke going to murder the kage while they were trapped in the dream: S_ame thing preventing Sasuke from attacking Konoha rather than "killing Naruto first" as he promised during the Team 7 reunion. Nothing. That said, Sasuke sees Naruto as the only threat to his plans. Taking him out takes first priority, which is why he doesn't mind using 24 hours to prepare for him as opposed to doubling back and killing the kages. Once Naruto's dead, there's nothing stopping him from doing anything, much less killing the kages At the end of the day, he'd have to face Naruto or later. May as well get it out of the way as opposed to an inopportune time (i.e ambush).

**(4) **I had addressed a couple of reviews in an edit of chapter 3 and made one small tweak to the chapter itself last week!

**(5) **Thanks for all the kind comments! They mean a lot and motivate me to get these chapters out faster!

As always, thanks for the reviews and tune in next time!


	5. Chapter 697: A Duel Between Brothers III

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

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**\- - -A Duel Between Brothers: Part Three - - -**

Roughly ten minutes had passed since Naruto destroyed the meteorites falling towards the hidden village of the leaf and Kakashi was still standing in awe at the gravity of his student's achievement. It was one thing to destroy all nine meteorites with one shot, but to do it from several dozen miles away, keep Konoha out of the blast zone's radius, vaporize the meteorites in such a way as to prevent any excess debris from hitting the village, all within a short time frame, all while a using a technique he had just learned and all while contending with Sasuke . . . why it was a feat one would expect to hear only in legends. The veteran jonin could not help but give a small but approving smile beneath his mask. His student had certainly come far in surpassing his expectations.

Though the time for relief was cut short. Just as one disaster was averted, another took its place. A bright booming light in the distance to the north suddenly appeared. For a moment, the light brightened the entire sky. Just as soon as the flash ended, hurricane like winds began sweeping through the leaf village. The winds weren't strong enough to seriously damage the area, but even so, Kakashi and Sakura could barely stand in the brunt of them. Then, just as quickly as they came, the winds died away and all was calm.

Kakashi began dusting himself off, only to notice that the pink haired medical ninja was unaffected by what had just occurred. Rather, she was serene, still glancing north in the direction Naruto had walked into early that morning.

"_Naruto_, _it doesn't matter what happens, does it? Even if the inconceivable occurs, nothing will stop you from coming back to the village with Sasuke today. Nothing at all."_

**[. . . . . . .]**

Sasuke found himself descending in the air with his Susanoo fading. As he landed on the ground, his Susanno faded completely, the sharingan wielder no longer having the chakra capacity to maintain it. The rogue ninja was not concerned though. Rather, he was more interested in taking the time to evaluate the destruction he had wrought.

Sasuke looked around left and right. There had been many changes to the area since he had unleashed his most powerful attack. All of the water that had been in the valley was gone, not even a trace of it remaining. The ground was dry like the sand in a desert. The mountains, the monuments of Hashirama and Madara, had disappeared without a trace. The Valley of the End was no longer a valley; it was just a vast crater the spanned on for miles. The crater itself was fully comprised of bedrock. Of course, the most drastic change was something beyond comprehension.

In the air, at the focal point of where Naruto and Sasuke's attacks had collided was a hole. Not just any hole, but what appeared to be a rift in the very fabric of reality. It looked similar to the distortion of time and space Kakashi's kamui would create while in use, but the flux was constant and the rift would not dissipate.

Sasuke considered taking the time to analyze this unnatural predicament, but decided against it, not sensing anything to indicate that this oddity was a source of any immediate danger. It was definitely something he intended to scrutinize, but not until he had recovered from the battle, killed the 5 kages and broken the infinite tsukiyomi.

The Uchiha warrior felt a strong urge to close his left eye. Having consumed so much chakra just now, even using the rinnegan eye was a bit taxing on his constitution. Still, the sharingan wielder wanted to be certain on whether the entire land of fire had really been reduced to rubble. Using his rinnegan one more time, Sasuke concentrated to the best of his ability in an effort to see any remaining chakra signals beyond the valley of the end. To Sasuke's surprise though, the country was still full of chakra signals. In fact, all of the people caught within the infinite tsukiyomi were still emitting chakra.

"_Naruto's jutsu"_, Sasuke thought. "_It must've somehow canceled out most of my Indra's arrow. It would seem I was wise in taking precautions and using nearly all of my chakra to stop it. But to have used such a destructive jutsu in his condition . . ."_

Wishing to rest his rinnegan, Sasuke closed his left eye. He then deactivated his mangekyou sharingan, seeing no further need for it at the moment. "_No matter. The goal was to kill Naruto. Now that that's done, I'll rest for a day. One of Orichimaru's old hideouts is not too far away. That should give me enough to time recover enough chakra so that I may continue using the power of the tailed beasts._"

Just as the rogue ninja took several steps to the north, he was interrupted by the sound of someone coughing. "_Impossible."_

Sasuke proceeded to walk a number of yards towards the sound's epicenter, the cough getting louder and louder the closer he got. Until finally, Sasuke saw his rival lying on his back, still alive, but barely.

Naruto was no longer in sage of six path modes; he was back to his regular self, no chakra shroud or anything. Even worse, he was coughing up blood and vigorously clutching at his chest. Sasuke may have been low on chakra, but Naruto was in a far worse state.

The Uchiha warrior quickly surmised the reason Naruto was still alive. The blast of their two attacks destroyed everything in the valley of the end except for them. To keep himself from being consumed by the explosion that had ensued, Sasuke used a fraction of his chakra to strengthen the defenses of his Susanoo. Likewise, Naruto must've used his chakra shroud to protect himself. The only question was where he got the chakra to do that, much less power his attack. Truly baffling.

Without pause, Sasuke swiftly kicked his weakened rival in the ribs, sending Naruto's body flying a several feet into the air.

"_Naruto, you have to get up!", _Kurama cried. "_If you don't do it now, he will kill you!"_

"_I'm trying as hard as I can to move, but my body just won't listen."_

The tailed beast recalled the conversation him and Naruto had the night before. The two had spent much of the evening discussing the upcoming battle with Sasuke. Almost immediately into the discussion, it was determined that they had no chance of victory as long as Sasuke had the all of the tailed beast at his disposal as well as the powers offered by the rinnegan. And that's when it occurred to them. As they had learned during their encounter with Nagato, the rinnegan required a great deal of chakra to wield in the first place, much less use it techniques. If they could force Sasuke to not only use up the chakra he had absorbed from the tailed beasts, but also the chakra the sharingan wielder had been using to brandish the rinnegan's abilities in the first place, then Sasuke would no longer have a lopsided advantage.

But there was a problem with this plan: Even if they could force the rogue ninja into a situation where he had to use so much chakra, how would they be able to survive the encounter? Naruto came up with the idea of using a hypothetical rasengan based jutsu he had thought of after gaining his sage of six path abilities, but knew he'd need much more chakra than he was currently capable of emitting to use it. He would also need chakra to defend himself from the inevitable blast sure to be produced as a result of his and Sasuke's strongest attacks colliding.

Kurama then decided to use his chakra gathering abilities in a way he had never done before; the nine tailed fox went beyond his usual limits and spent the entire night building up chakra to give to Naruto so that he would be prepared for such a situation. To keep Sasuke from catching onto the plan, Kurama would directly channel the excess chakra into Naruto's jutsu and chakra shroud only at the right moment. The idea was for Sasuke to subsequently be low on chakra and for Naruto have plenty of energy to spare. However, as they say, even the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

"_Naruto, it's all my fault. If I had only been able to gather more chakra last night, you wouldn't be in this situation."_

"_No, you gathered as much chakra you could. But now's not the time to feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to think of something fast!"_

Sasuke stomped one foot on Naruto's chest, causing the leaf ninja cough up an additional handful of blood. The Uchiha warrior unsheathed his katana from its scabbard, preparing to end the battle with one swing of his blade. Naruto frantically watched his rival raise his sword as he desperately tried to move.

As if his life was flashing before his eyes, memories of the past flooded through Kurama's mind. His time with Hagaramo, the original Sage of Six Paths. Someone he thought highly of. Then his time with Madara Uchiha, someone he was glad to have played a part in defeating. Then his time with Mito Uzumaki. Not vile like Madara, but at the same time someone he didn't much care for. Then his time with Kushina Uzumaki. Someone that frustrated him to no end, but at the same time someone he began to feel some pain and regret about in having played a role in ending her life. Then . . . thoughts of Naruto came to mind. And not just thoughts of the past, but of the present and the time they had bonded throughout the fourth great shinobi war. The fox had experienced many things throughout his long long life, but never before had he experienced something that could quell his immense pain and hatred. Never before had he experienced . . .

The rogue ninja plunged his sword towards Naruto throat. The young jinchuriki found himself desperately attempting to move right down to the last moment. But in that one small moment, his battle trained reflexes finally responded to him. The leaf ninja found his left hand holding onto the dull end of Sasuke's katana, keeping it from puncturing his skin.

Sasuke appeared startled, yet again bemused about how his rival keeps finding additional energy. Naruto, however, was quick to seize advantage of the sharingan wielder's lowered guard; he reached into one of his pockets with his right hand and expeditiously threw several shuriken at the rogue ninja's face.

Sasuke quickly leaped out of the way to avoid the shuriken, inadvertently removing his foot from Naruto's chest. The leaf ninja then leaped into a standing position, amazed that he could move again.

"_I don't know how you did that Kurama, but thanks."_

Naruto waited on his fox companion to respond, expecting to be chided about being reckless or to be reminded that the fight wasn't over yet. But for some reason, all the boy could hear in his head was silence.

"_Kurama? Hello?"_

A concerned Naruto instantly appeared inside his mental realm. He looked around this void space, wondering why the tailed beast was not saying anything. However, what he found was his companion lying on his side with his eye closed, slowly vanishing. The vanishing was not something the boy had seen before, but the position the fox was in reminded him of a position he had seen many times in the past as animals were nearing their final moments.

Naruto rushed over to his companion's side, angrily shaking him back and forth. "_Hey! What are you doing? This is no time for jokes! We haven't beaten Sasuke yet!"_

Tears begin to manifest themselves in the leaf ninja's eyes. He didn't want to believe what he was seeing, but it was becoming harder and harder to deny what was happening. "_I get it! You're tired, right? You spent all night gathering chakra and didn't get any rest. Yeah, you just need to sleep . . . right? Kurama, please tell me I'm right!"_

"_Naruto", _Kurama weakly whispered. "_If you're worried about your own fate due to the state I'm in, don't. A jinchuriki will die if its tailed beast is removed, but this rule does not apply to a tailed beast that dies on its own accord."_

"_I don't care about that!"_, Naruto cried. "_Why didn't you tell me this could happen?"_

"_The consequences didn't occur to me. I . . . just reacted without thinking. It's funny how this world works. Throughout most of my lonely existence, I've had nothing but hate for humans. To think there'd come a day . . . when I would be able to call one my friend."_

At this point, the leaf ninja was sobbing._ "That's right and we've still got many days left together!"_

"_Yes. My yang half does. Make sure to save him. Goodbye . . . my friend."_

With that, Kurama vanished completely and there was no further trace of him. What used to be a noisy chamber inside the leaf ninja's head was now a realm of complete solitude.

The young jinchuriki instantly returned to the real world. The boy suddenly gritted his teeth and tightly clenched his hands. What grief he had moments ago was replaced by fury.

Sasuke noticed the sudden change in his opponent's demeanor. The sharingan wielder was all too familiar with the look Naruto was giving him. This was the sort of rage one expressed when experiencing the pain of loss. It was then that he put two and two together.

"I see. The reason you're standing now is because your tailed beast offered up the remainder of his life force to give you enough chakra to move. I'm betting it also over-exhausted itself by spending many hours gathering chakra for you prior to our fight. That sound about right?"

Naruto responded with nothing but an intimidating scowl on his face.

"Thought so. Still, who is going to disrupt your chakra for you now?"

Sasuke's mangekyou sharingan manifested itself in his right eye.

The leaf ninja removed a kunai affixed with an explosive tag from his coat pocket while trying to turn his head away from his adversary's right eye. However, he had already caught a single glimpse of it before being able to do so.

Naruto once again found himself inside a pseudo reality. This reality, however, was nothing like the previous one he had been subjected to. There was no sign of Sakura, Kakashi or even Sasuke. There was no blood soaked battlefield. Rather, the young jinchuriki found himself within a complete void filled with nothing but darkness. Naruto then heard a disembodied voice.

"I thought the threat of the Tsukiyomi would simply be a great way to keep your tailed beast from gathering additional chakra for you during the fight. I never would've imagined a selfish creature like that would give me the opportunity to use this by sacrificing its life for you. Now, because of it, you will experience death in the truest since, Naruto. You will die alone."

Within the real world, Sasuke suddenly took note of the explosive tag in Naruto's hand. The fuse was still burning; Naruto did not have the opportunity to throw it. Having trained in the arts of the shinobi his entire life, the Uchiha warrior was well familiar with these weapons, thus instinctively knew to stay beyond one's range when it was in the process of igniting.

"_If the explosion doesn't kill him, I will_", Sasuke thought, clenching the hilt of his katana.

Seconds had passed and the fuse on the tag had burned out completely. However, instead of an explosion, there was a quick flash of blinding light. The explosive tag was really a flash bomb designed to look like an explosive tag. In reaction to this ruse, the sharingan wielder began profusely rubbing his right eye, disoriented by the thick and intense light.

Amidst the confusion, the rogue ninja felt a series of punches each aimed at the pressure points on his head and each carrying the weight of high level proficiency and experience. To Sasuke, the sensation was similar to someone flickering the lights on and off as part of a children's game, though much more painful. The blows were followed up with a vicious uppercut, lifting the Uchiha warrior off of his feet and nearly causing him to fall on his back before he could mount a recovery.

Sasuke opened his right eye, now being over the effects of the blinding light released moments ago. He rubbed his jaw while looking upon the one responsible for the damage he received just now, only to look on with disbelief.

"Kakashi?!", the rogue ninja shockingly exclaimed.

Indeed, what Sasuke saw in front of him was not Naruto, but his former sensei, Kakashi Hatake. But the young Uchiha was quick to realize the absurdity of this occurrence.

"_No, he can't be here right now. I would've seen his chakra signal with the rinnegan earlier. This must be some sort of genjutsu. But since when does Naruto use genjutsu? His aptitude for it has always been pathetic. And why would I be unable to see past it with my sharingan?"_

What had appeared to be Kakashi in Sasuke's eyes slowly faded back into Naruto.

"_Regardless, I'll have to change strategy. I don't have enough chakra left to continue using the mangekyou, much less risking another failed tsukiyomi. Maybe against another opponent, but not him"_, Sasuke thought, reverting his sharingan back to its normal form.

Naruto once again charged at his rival, this time firmly holding a kunai in his right hand. Sasuke responded by swiftly sheathing his sword and throwing several smoke bombs in the leaf ninja's direction.

Almost simultaneously, the rogue ninja removed a weapon sealing scroll from one of the many compartments on his outfit, instantly making a weapon appear. In Sasuke's hands was a kusarigama, the scythe part being firmly held in his left hand and the other end of the chain being rapidly spun in his right.

Naruto tried his best to navigate his way out of the smoke cloud he had just been blindsided by, but quickly felt chains being tightly wrapped around his body. The boy struggled to break free, but whatever material the chains were composed of was extremely resilient.

"Chidori Current!"

A potent stream of electricity poured throughout the rogue ninja's weapon. Naruto winced in pain as the electrical current was channeled throughout the chain. Then, without pause, Sasuke used all of his strength to swing the chain upwards, lifting the leaf ninja high into the air, only to then jerk the chain downwards, brutally slamming Naruto into the ground.

The blond haired leaf ninja did his best to brace himself against the pain, but even he had difficulty shrugging off the effects of being smashed into pure bedrock while constantly being electrocuted.

Sasuke repeated the process of slamming Naruto into the ground a dozen times, noticeable hearing the sound of the young jinchuriki's bones fracturing on the twelfth.

As the rogue ninja swung Naruto into the air once more, the leaf ninja recalled a conversation he once had with Shikamura's former sensei, Asuma Saratobi. It was back when Naruto had been training to learn how to use nature manipulation.

"_There're ninja weapons that can make cuts already"_, Naruto noted, observing Asuma's chakra knife. "_So is there any point in learning how to control this wind element?"_

Asuma chuckled, reminded of his own inexperience at the young leaf ninja's age. "_Ok, then we'll throw these chakra-knives at that tree together."_

Naruto and Asuma had thrown their chakra knives at a nearby tree, only for Naruto's knife to get stuck in the tree and for Asuma's knife to plunge through the tree and hit a nearby rock.

"_It can get dangerous so I limited my chakra use, but if I tried, that knife would cut through that rock as well."_

Back in the present, a lightbulb went off in Naruto's head. Using the kunai in his right hand, he managed to slice through the chains wrapped around him like butter before his rival could slam him into the ground again.

Upon landing on the ground, the leaf ninja ran towards his adversary, this time throwing his kunai at him while moving. Sasuke countered by using the scythe part of his kusarigama to deflect the kunai being launched at him.

However, at the very moment the rogue ninja was deflecting the blade, Naruto appeared directly in front of him, having used the bodyflicker technique to momentarily increase his speed. With one hand being used to deflect the kunai, Sasuke was practically wide open for another barrage of punches.

But the Uchiha warrior was ready for such an assault this time. The bodyflicker, although fast, was nothing compared to the leaf ninja's yellow flash jutsu. Having anticipated Naruto's tactic, Sasuke had already formed boar, horse and tiger seals with just his right hand alone. With Naruto so close, he was the one wide open for a point-blank counter-attack

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!"

Just as flames were beginning to erupt from the rogue ninja's mouth, the kunai that he had deflected transformed into a shadow clone, evidently created when Naruto was hidden within the midst of Sasuke's smoke bombs. The shadow clone punched Sasuke square in his left cheek, causing the Uchiha warrior to turn his head enough for his fireball to be fired in a different direction.

Simultaneously, however, Sasuke's left fist was now buried deep under the confines of Naruto's jaw. It was a dual exchange, Naruto's shadow clone hitting Sasuke and Sasuke hitting the real Naruto. Both ninja were instantly knocked away from the impact of their simultaneous blows.

The leaf and the rogue ninja quickly regained their footing, but were both breathing heavily, sweating profusely and showing ample signs of exhaustion. The lengths of the two shinobis' battle was finally taking its toll. On Naruto moreso given that he was once again clutching his chest.

This time, however, Sasuke took note of his rival's strange behavior. Due to his astute powers of observation, a thought occurred to him. One that manifested a smug smirk on his face.

"It all makes sense now. That speed you had earlier. This is the consequence of using it, isn't?"

Naruto didn't answer. Rather, he continued to heavily pant and clutch at his chest.

"What a shame. Had I figured that out sooner, I wouldn't have bothered using up so much chakra. Do you plan on dying a meaningless death just like your father?"

The leaf ninja ceased panting, only to look upon his opponent with fiery rage in his eyes.

"I wondered why you chose to wear his symbol today. I suppose it makes sense. A weak son chooses to follow the footsteps of a weak father."

The young jinchuriki threw several smoke bombs onto the ground beneath him, instantly being concealed by a enormous cloud of smoke. "Shut your mouth!"

Sasuke unsheathed his katana and ran towards his concealed adversary at full speed. "Shinobi are people who endure to achieve their goals. Your father couldn't endure. Instead, he gave up and forced his infant son to fight his battles for him. "

As the smoke cleared, six identical Narutos were present, the real one being mixed up within the group of fakes.

"You don't know a damn thing about my father!", one of the clones yelled.

Three Narutos met Sasuke head on, each engaging him with kunai's equipped in their right hands.

"_Naruto, I'll be the first to admit that your mastery with this jutsu is second to none."_

Rather than fighting the three Narutos, the rogue ninja leapt over them and headed for the other three.

"_With it, you've been able to best even the greatest of shinobi."_

Two of the three Narutos Sasuke was running towards ran to engage to him. Both threw a barrage of shuriken at the sharingan wielder.

"_And were you facing any other opponent, you may have been able win with it."_

The Uchiha warrior masterfully deflected the series of shuriken with his katana. Simultaneously, the three Narutos that he had leaped over were all charging him from behind.

"_But I know you better than anyone else."_

The rogue ninja, aware of the three Narutos behind him, backflipped over their heads before they could touch him, cutting down the Naruto in the center of the trio upon landing on the ground. This Naruto poofed into a cloud of smoke, proving to be nothing more than a shadow clone.

"_I've trained with you, been on missions with you, fought at your side in the heat of battle and have even seen your very thoughts."_

The single Naruto that had not yet taken part in the skirmish formed a rasengan in his right hand, leaped into the air and descended towards Sasuke preparing to strike. At the same time, the young Uchiha's katana became enveloped with blue lightning.

"_Which is why . . ."_

Sasuke firmly held his katana with his left hand, preparing to cut down the Naruto with the rasengan. However, just as it seemed like Sasuke and that Naruto were about to clash, Sasuke rolled under this Naruto who had not yet landed on the ground and plunged his sword right through the chest of one of the Narutos that had thrown multiple shuriken at him.

"This jutsu is useless against me."

At that moment, the other four remaining Narutos spoofed into clouds of smoke, proving this one to be the real one after all. Even more obvious that this wasn't a clever gambit, a small stream of blood began to pour out of Naruto's chest as well as from the exit wound on his back.

The sharingan wielder swiftly removed his katana from the leaf ninja's chest. Seeing no further need for it, he deactivated his sharingan and the lightning enveloping his katana dissipated.

Naruto's eyes were blank, the life having poured out of them upon the success of Sasuke's last attack. The leaf ninja's legs were giving out and it was clear that he was about to fall on his back.

Sasuke turned around, taking no pleasure in watching his rival's demise. Instead, the rogue ninja proceeded to begin walking away, hoping to find temporary refuge at one of Orochimaru's old hideouts.

As the Uchiha warrior walked a number of yards away from his vanquished adversary, a thought alarmingly occurred to him. He had yet to hear the sound of a body hitting the ground. 'Twas a troublesome thought and one that frustrated the young Uchiha to no end, causing him to grit his teeth and clench his hands.

Sasuke aggressively turned his head, not wanting to see what he had suspected to see. But alas, he saw Naruto, not standing upright, but still not having fallen to the ground.

"Damn you", the rogue ninja muttered. "Why don't you just die already?"

Upon closer inspection of the sight before him, Sasuke observed the faint image of an annoying girl he had known for much of his career as a shinobi. It looked as if the girl was holding Naruto up, keeping him from falling.

"_Sakura_? _No, he's not using genjutsu. Am I hallucinating?!_"

Sasuke watched in disbelief as the faint image of the pink haired medical ninja pulled Naruto back onto his feet. It was only then that the blood from Naruto's chest wound stopped leaking and his eyes were yet again filled with life.

As the faint image of Sakura vanished from Sasuke's sights, Naruto resolutely glared in the sharingan wielder's direction. "Sasuke, until I've dragged your ass back to the leaf village, I will not fall!"

The rogue ninja reactivated his sharingan eye and ran towards his opponent, this time with malice coursing throughout him.

The blond haired leaf ninja once again threw several smoke bombs onto the ground to hide his movements, yet again creating five shadow clones and hiding amongst them.

"Don't insult me!", Sasuke snarled, surprised at the audacity his opponent had in using a technique that had just been thoroughly conquered.

No different than last time, three of the six Narutos charged at the sharingan wielder. And just like last time, the Uchiha warrior leaped over the three Narutos in front and headed for the other three. Once more, two of the three Narutos Sasuke was heading towards threw a barrage of shuriken at the rogue ninja. But unlike last time, rather than deflecting these shuriken, Sasuke leaped over these Naruto's as well, high enough to descend upon the single that had not yet charged.

"Useless!", the rogue ninja yelled, firmly holding his katana above his head with both hands, encompassing the blade with lightning yet again and preparing to cut this single Naruto down with a downward slash of his sword.

But just as it looked like Sasuke was about to cut this Naruto in half, he clapped his two hands, catching Sasuke's sword mid-slash. The leaf ninja then swiftly turned his clapped hands in a direction perpendicular to the sword, snapping it in half.

The rogue ninja was befuddled. It was as if young jinchuriki expected him to instantly figured out which Naruto was real. Not only that, but the leaf ninja broke his lightning enhanced sword with his bare hands. But this was just the beginning of Naruto's counter-attack.

Before Sasuke could react, one of the shadow clones rushed Sasuke from the side.

"U!", the shadow clone said, sharply punching Sasuke in his left cheek.

Another shadow clone suddenly jumped on the back of the clone that had just hit the Uchiha warrior. The clone proceeded to leap into the air, tumbling as he rose higher and higher.

"ZU", a third shadow clone said, sliding on the ground from behind Sasuke's, kicking him in his back.

"MA", a fourth shadow clone uttered, sliding on the ground in front of sharingan wielder, kicking him in his stomach.

"KI", a fifth shadow clone voiced, sliding on the ground to the right of the Uchiha warrior, kicking him in his ribs, and launching him into the air.

The rogue ninja began spewing blood from his mouth as he was rising. "_No. I've come too far to lose here. Not . . . like this. Not . . . by him."_

"NARUTO BARRAGE!", the second clone exclaimed, preparing to axe kick Sasuke's head in mid air.

Before the clone's foot could come into contact with the Uchiha warrior's head, he avoided the blow by moving his head out of the way at the last second. Sasuke then swiftly climbed atop the clone's shoulders and leaped even higher into the air, making sure that he was directly above the original Naruto.

"_Both of us are just about out of chakra. Everything comes down to this next move, Naruto."_

Now freefalling in the air, Sasuke looked towards the sky and formed the boar, horse and tiger seals with his hands.

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!"

A fire ball came flying out of the rogue ninja's mouth, the force of the blast drastically increasing the speed at which Sasuke was falling. The Uchiha then spun around, now having the real Naruto in his sights as he was rapidly descending to the ground. A potent stream of solid lightning encompassed the boy's left hand.

"CHIDORI!"

Naruto, panting heavily, held out his right hand and looked up at his rival flying towards him. However, Sasuke was approaching him so quickly, that his signature ball of chakra didn't even manifest until Sasuke was within several feet of him."

"_It's over, Naruto. I've won!"_

A number of things were flashing through the blond haired leaf ninja's mind. This prodigy of the Uchiha clan had defeated him in their encounters in the past. When they sparred in the ninja academy. When they fought at the valley of the end. But despite these failures, the young jinchuriki had overcome unspeakable odds before. These successes instantly came to mind. He defeated Gaara. He defeated Kakuzu. He defeated Pein. He defeated Obito. And he defeated Kaguya. So then what was the difference between them and the man that stood before him, he thought. Why could he defeat them, but not Sasuke? Why did he lose three years ago?

Memories of an encounter with Haku in the forest in that warm and sunny forest so long ago came to mind. "_When a person has something important to protect, that's when they truly become strong."_

The young jinchuriki then recalled his encounter with Itachi after the two of them had faced Nagato. "_No matter how powerful you become, never try to shoulder everything alone. Otherwise, you will undoubtedly fail. Your father Minato could be Hokage because he had Kushina all the others. It's not that if you become Hokage, everyone will acknowledge you. It is the ones who are acknowledged that can become Hokage. Do not forget your friends."_

Lastly, the leaf ninja recalled his conversation with Sakura on the previous night. "_Naruto, if you don't mind, I have one last selfish request to make of you. In addition to keeping your promise to bring Sasuke back, no matter what happens tomorrow-above all else, I want you to come back to me . . . alive_."

The Uchiha warrior rapidly closed in, looking like he was about impale his rival once and for all. But just as it seemed that this was going to happen, something that had not occurred in any of the boys' prior clashes happened.

Naruto's eyes grew absolutely focused as he accomplished the impossible; in the blink of an eye, he stretched out his left arm and caught Sasuke's left hand head on. Were it any other adversary, the destructive power of the chidori would have marked the end for anyone foolhardy enough to engage it in this fashion. But Sasuke was not just dealing with any adversary.

"_Impossible! He's using wind chakra alone to block my chidori!"_

Several seconds of this impasse went by as the chidori dissipated completely. The leaf ninja's hand was charred and every bone in that arm, from his fingers to his shoulder proceeded to crumble, making the boys arm go limp. But to him, that didn't matter. For although he could no longer use his left arm, he still had his right.

"RASENGAN!"

Naruto used nearly every ounce of remaining strength he had to smash his signature attack into his rival's stomach. In response, the rogue ninja felt a pain unlike any other, spewing out handfuls of blood upon impact. If that weren't enough, the sheer force of the blow hurled him into the air like a rocket, even higher than he had leaped before using his chidori.

As Sasuke flew into the air, he began to drift away, eyes fading. "_I see. So in the end, I was the weak one."_

With that, the rogue ninja fell to the ground, landing flat on his back.

Naruto, breathing heavily and clutching his chest, took several steps towards his fallen adversary. In a scene contrary to the one that played out years ago, it was the leaf ninja who remained standing, looking down upon his defeated rival. The boy reached down to feel the sharingan wielder's pulse, making certain that he had survived their encounter. From getting hit by a rasengan point blank and falling on hard bedrock, all but a few of his bones were broken. Even so, the rogue ninja's will to live was as strong as ever.

Naruto wanted to lay down and rest, feeling more exhausted than ever before. Still, the leaf ninja knew that his mission wasn't finished yet. There was just one more thing he had to do before he could call this day a success . . .

. . .

_End of Chapter_

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**Author's Note:  
**

**(1)** Omni literally means all. You'll get a more thorough explanation of these techniques in the next chapter or the one afterwards. Leaning towards the one afterwards.

**(2) **I'd like to think I made Naruto work hard for his victory over Sasuke. Technically, the only new jutsu I gave him was the Omni Style: Rasenshuriken. I suppose I might get the same criticism given that I have him blocking Sasuke's chidori with wind chakra channeled into his hand, but I kind of see that as similar to the Raikage channeling lightning chakra throughout his body to move fast, so it's not entirely unprecedented! ;) Besides, as one might infer from the three quotes had Naruto recall before blocking the chidori, that's not the entire reason Naruto was able to block it, though more on that in the next chapter.

**(3) **Yin Kurama is dead. Period. Even on the off chance I do a sequel to this fic, I will never bring him back. Death should be permanent.

**(4) **Someone asked why I don't have Naruto using his truth seeking balls. Good question. On a real note, it's pretty much the same reason Kishi forgot about them and that's on account of them being way too undefined and way too unbalanced. I think wise use of them could've easily given Naruto the advantage over Sasuke in the canon fight, but who knows? Maybe Naruto is just that inexperienced. Honestly, there are tons of jutsu Naruto could use that have been downplayed or otherwise forgotten about. Mini-rasenshurikens anybody? Instant healing anybody? What happened to the rasenshuriken chopping things down on a cellular level? There are more head-scratchers in this manga than I can count! I brought back his super speed and ability to learn massive quantities of information via shadow clones. I guess I could've worked the truth-seeking balls into this fight too, but yeah, I wasn't too sure what to do with them. Most legitimate criticism about this fic I've seen and one I've got no problems conceding to. :P

**(5)** Someone asked if I would consider during a version of this fic for the Last. So far, the answer is no, although if it isn't obvious from this chapter, I will lay down the seeds for a sequel (in case I decide to come back and do a "The Last" rewrite) and may do a Shinachiku one-shot if I get the time. So far though, I have no plans for any of that.

**(6) **So yeah, the fight is done! There will be no more fight chapters in this fic. Next up is the aftermath to the fight.

As always, thanks the comments and many thanks for the constructive criticism! Tune in for the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 698: Self Actualization

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

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**\- - -Self Actualization - - -**

Sasuke weakly opened his right eye in a daze, feeling too fatigued to bother opening his left. He noticed that the sun had gone down and that the sky was now dark; it was late in the evening. He slowly looked around and realized that he was on his back, passing trees every few seconds. The rogue ninja tried moving his arms and legs, but they would not respond.

Becoming less disoriented by the minute, the Uchiha warrior finally mustered up the strength to move his head, if only a little. It was then that he realized that his body was being dragged across the forest and that whatever was pulling him was using a rope tied around his upper body. The rope was tied well, tight and secure.

The sharingan wielder nudged his head a little bit further, now becoming aware of the fact that he was wrapped in the haori his knucklehead nemesis had been wearing earlier. As he remembered this, the final moments of the battle he had just thought flashed through his mind. What happened then was no dream or some sort of genjutsu; he had been defeated by . . .

"Naruto!"

The pulling had come to a sudden halt.

"You awake already?", the leaf ninja responded. "You've been out of it for about seven hours now. With the shape you're in, even with Sakura-chan's healing, I thought for sure you'd need at least a week to-"

"Cut the crap", Sasuke interrupted. "Why are you taking me back to the Konoha?"

Naruto sighed and continued to pull the rogue ninja. With the bones shattered in his left arm, he used only his right.

"What? Did you think it would be this easy? Merely knocking me out and taking me back to the leaf village. That things would just magically be back to normal?"

The leaf ninja did not respond, continuing to pull his former comrade.

"Well I've got news for you. The minute you've taken me back and have me healed up, I'll-"

"Go ahead", the young jinchuriki bluntly interrupted.

The rogue ninja was taken aback and what he just heard. He had been expecting his rival to plead with him or give an asinine speech about understanding one another. But this was . . . unusual to say the least.

"What did you just say?"

"I said: Go ahead. Go ahead and fight me again as soon as you've been healed up. Go ahead use all of the tailed beast against me again. Go ahead and use all of the dirty tricks you can think of again. Do whatever you think you need to do to beat me. But I warn you: The outcome is not going to change."

"Do you think I'm as big a fool as you? You beat me by the skin of your teeth. Even as you pull me, you're barely hanging on; you may as well be a walking corpse at this point. You don't even have a tailed beast anymore. What makes you think you'll do just as well next time?"

"Because in that last moment of our fight, I came to understand something I did not understand in any of our previous encounters."

Sasuke recalled that excruciating moment where Naruto caught his signature technique with the palm of his hand. Though the sharingan wielder would never admit it, what frustrated him most in that last exchange was not being hit by the rasengan itself, but the fact that his rival didn't even bother clashing with him as he had in their previous duels.

"That the difference between your strength and mine is like night and day."

"What do you mean by that?", the Uchiha warrior responded, a veneer of agitation in his voice.

The blond haired leaf ninja yet again stopped, this time turning his head to resolutely look his former teammate in the eyes. "That our rivalry is finished. You're too weak to challenge me as you are now."

"Weak?!", Sasuke snarled. He had begun to suspect this since the final moments of their fight, but just hearing his nemesis say it out loud hit him harder than any rasengan ever could.

Naruto turned his head back towards the direction he had been walking in and continued pulling. "Yeah. Weak."

"Supposing I am weak, what makes you any stronger? I nearly wiped out an entire country today. I tried to kill everyone you care about. Yet you don't even have the guts to kill me!"

"Is that what you think? It's funny. Last night, Kakashi told me something interesting. That the reason I lost to you before was because I wasn't fighting to kill you whereas you were; that I was holding back."

"Kakashi is right. Had you fought to kill me that time, you might've won. But it's your refusal to kill someone like me that you makes you weak."

"No, Kakashi is half-right. I was holding back against you, but it had nothing to do with me not wanting to kill you. The willingness to kill someone does not make you strong."

"Then what was it that caused you to hold back?"

The leaf ninja sighed. "My resolve."

"Resolve?"

"When I look back at that fight, all I can think about is how I wanted to understand you; how I wanted to save my friend from the darkness."

"And you regret having those feelings?"

"No, I still feel the same way and want to save you even now. But when I fought you that time, that was all that was on my mind."

Thoughts of the two shinobis first battle at the valley of the end came to mind. Naruto and Sasuke were in the midst of their duel when the sharingan wielder tied his leaf village head band around his head.

"_I will acknowledge that you are strong"_, Sasuke smirked. "_Because you are someone who knows the same pain of loneliness as I do. And that pain makes a person stronger. Because of that, by severing these bonds, I will gain even more strength._ _From now on, we will fight as equals. You will not even be able to scratch my forehead. That much has not changed."_

"Fighting you made me forgot about everything else. I forgot the mission Tsunade had counted on me to succeed in. I forgot about Chouji, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru and Lee and what they sacrificed to give me the chance to catch up to you. I even forgot the promise I made to Sakura-chan before heading out. All I wanted to do was understand you. I thought that by doing that, I'd be able to bring you back to the leaf village."

"What's your point?", Sasuke asked, finding himself curious about the answer.

"It was because of all those other things that I had the power to reach you in the first place. For me to throw it all away while fighting you insured my defeat."

This time, it was the Uchiha warrior who was silent. He wanted to dismiss all of Naruto's words as inane chatter, but there was a part of him that was legitimately intrigued.

"When we had fought again in the land of iron, your pain and loneliness was so much greater than before. You could say I was intimidated by it. Despite everything I had learned, I even convinced myself that you had become that much more powerful; that I still wasn't on your level. When in truth, you were weaker than ever."

"So what are you saying? That my pain makes me weak? What about you? You grew up hated by the villagers. Unlike me, pain and loneliness is all you ever knew."

"The difference between you and me is that I was able to move on from my pain. I was able to find people I wanted to protect, people who acknowledged me every bit as much as I acknowledged them. I never fully understood it until today, but it is only because of them that I was able to find true strength and realize my true potential . . . just like my dad did before he became hokage."

The rogue ninja dismissively shook his head. "Preposterous."

"Think about it. You had all the advantages in the world during our fight, but when push came to shove, when you pitted your resolve against mine, it wasn't even close."

The sharingan wielder contemplated on these words. At very least, it was true that he had the advantage against Naruto. Through hours of planning, he had been confident in his victory and had seen very little reason for the fight to even last as long as it did, much less with him coming out as the loser. Naruto was weak, he had told himself; Naruto represented everything he despised. He didn't have the strength to do what was necessary. So how could someone like this, someone who couldn't embrace his strength created from his pain, someone who admits to relying on others for strength . . . how could someone like this possibly defeat him? It was mind boggling. But perhaps there was a reason.

A thought came to Sasuke's mind. "Naruto, if there is a reason you've beaten me today, it has nothing to do with your desire to protect those you care about."

"Then what's the reason?"

"This is just another failure in the long line of failures for the Indra reincarnations. Indra failed against Ashura. Madara failed against Hashirama. No matter how hard Indra tries, Indra will always lose to Ashura."

"Are you still going on about that fate crap?"

"You call it crap, but heard it from the mouth of the Sage of Six Paths himself. You really think that all of our talents are just coincidence? That we just happened to become the two best shinobi in the world?"

"If Indra is always fated to lose to Ashura, then how did you beat me before?"

The young Uchiha started to respond, but couldn't think of an answer. Was there really truth to what Naruto saying? No, there . . . just couldn't be, he thought.

"What difference did that battle make?", the rogue ninja responded. "In the end, you're still alive and you're dragging me back to the village just as you said you would."

"You could've killed me back then, but you chose not to."

"Didn't I already tell you? I simply had not wanted to give Itachi the pleasure of seeing me attain power by submitting to his plans."

Naruto found himself chuckling. "You're lying. If you were willing to give your body to Orochimaru all for the sake of killing Itachi, you wouldn't care about something like that. The reason you didn't kill me that day is the same reason you asked me to join you yesterday."

"And what's that?"

The leaf ninja smiled cheerfully. "Because despite everything you believe about the pain of loneliness granting strength, somewhere deep down, you didn't want to severe our bond."

Sasuke chuckled to himself. "You're deluding yourself if you think I will become another victim of your endless preaching."

"Believe whatever you want, but mark my words: As long as you try shouldering everything alone, you will always fail."

As the sharingan wielder reflected on this last comment, something caught his eye. He nudged his head up, once again thinking he was hallucinating. The back of the one dragging him was not Naruto's; it was his older brother's, Itachi.

"_I see . . . so your will lives on through him, does it?._", the rogue ninja thought, not as taken aback by this image as he was the others. "_In that case . . ._"

"Naruto, grab my left hand!"

The young jinchuriki yet again stopped walking, turning his look upon his former teammate. "You aren't trying to pull something are you?"

"Idiot. Do I look like I'm in any position to try anything? You've broken nearly every bone in my body. Even if I were able to do something to you, I would be left for dead out here in the forest."

The leaf ninja considered the Uchiha warriors' words, only to then kneel down and hold his left hand.

"Now . . . form a rat seal", the rogue ninja weakly muttered.

"Sasuke, I don't have enough chakra to-"

"It doesn't matter", the rogue ninja interrupted. "In theory, even a sliver of chakra from the tailed beasts should suffice. It's the properties of the chakra that count, not the sheer amount."

"But what about your rinnegan? The sage said you needed it."

"I'll use some of the chakra you channel through my left hand to activate it for one second. But after that, I'll be out cold for some time."

"What about your plan to kill the kages?"

The sharingan wielder let out a faint laugh. "Don't get the wrong, idea. I'm still going to kill you if you get in my way. I'm only modifying my plans so I don't have to listen to your obnoxious proselytizing for the remainder of our trip back to Konoha.

The leaf ninja smiled cheerfully, beginning to do precisely what was requested. "Whatever you say, Sasuke."

With that, Naruto shaped his former teammate's hand into a rat seal and then proceeded to do the same with his own. At that instant, the young jinchuriki channeled a part of his remaining chakra into their hands. Simultaneously, Sasuke's left eye flew wide open.

[. . . . . . .]

Just as the two shinobis engaged in their ritual, the ground had begun shaking. Not just in the forest, but all around the earth

The branches at the nexus of where the infinite tsukiyomi had been cast was gradually withering away. So too were the roots and branches that had been keeping nearly every human the world captive. As the tree's hold loosened, its victims began to emerge.

Back on the battlefield where the Fourth Great Shinobi War had been fought, various ninja were coming to their senses.

The Leaf village's hokage found herself sitting on the ground, yawning as if she just woke up from a long and enduring nap. She felt a tear rolling down one of her cheeks and proceeded to rub it away. The Raikage then approached her and extended his right hand, offering to help her up.

The legendary medical ninja smiled, grabbing his hand and pulling herself up. "I suppose it had to end sooner or later."

The Raikage nodded his head. "A dream, no matter how good, can never be an adequate substitute for reality."

Tsunade sighed. "Somewhere along the lines, Madara gave up and decided to settle for the illusion of perpetual happiness, not realizing that he was selfishly taking away humanity's future."

"Indeed. True peace must earned not just for us, but for our children, their children and so forth."

On another part of the battlefield, Shikamaru and Temari were dusting themselves off, recuperating from their time inside Madara's worldwide genjutsu.

"What did you dream about?", Shikamaru asked his companion, still dusting himself off.

"None of your business", Temari responded, with a slight blush on her cheeks. "What about yourself?"

"I dreamed about telling you that I wouldn't get married", the prodigious leaf village chuunin bluntly replied. "Not much of a dream if you ask me."

Temari grabbed her large fan, swinging a gust of wind at Shikamaru strong enough to knock him to the ground.

"What was that for?", Shikamaru asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.

Temari giggled. "I noticed some excess dust cluttering your ears. Figured it was also cluttering that brain of yours. You're welcome."

"_I swear . . . I will never understand women."_

Elsewhere, Lee and Tenten found themselves walking and talking while looking for their sensei.

"Gai sensei and I did what?!", the bushy browed leaf ninja asked his teammate.

Tenten laughed. "Yeah, you two were so cool and mature, I couldn't believe it."

"How is that a dream? We're already cool and mature!", Lee responded, doing his nice guy pose.

Tenten sighed. "That's exactly what I'm talking about."

Lee kneeled down before his companion, like a knight before a queen. "Then in that case, I pledge myself to your tutelage. Teach me what I need to know so that I may know the ways of the cool and the mature!"

The weapon specialist shook her head with exasperation and buried her face into her palm. Then, a devious grin appeared on her face. She looked down at her overactive companion. "Alright, but I warn you. Your training will be intense."

"I hereby pledge to do whatever it takes to master your arts!"

Tenten giggled. "_This is going to be fun."_

Lee dramatically pumped his fist. "_Just watch me, Sakura! After my body has undergone Tenten's intense training, I will conquer your heart once and for all and your love will be mine!"_

Meanwhile, Sai had been walking around at his lonesome, attempting to locate the rest of team 7. Neither Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi nor Yamato were anyone to be seen and this troubled him. As he looked around, left and right, he stumbled Ino Yamanaka, a girl he had once feigned a complimentary remark towards.

"Hi there!", the team 11 member blushingly said, still filled with thoughts of the dream she had inside the infinite tsukiyomi.

"Oh . . . it's you. Hi!", Sai responded, a slight hint of disinterest in his voice.

"So . . . did you have an interesting dream?", the girl asked, still blushing nervously.

"Yes", Sai bluntly responded, not appearing to be invested in the conversation.

"I see . . . what did you dream about?"

Sai saw Yamato wandering around in the distance and began sprinting in his direction. "Some other time!"

Ino smacked her forehead self-deprecatingly and muttered to herself. "Stupid stupid stupid. You had him right there and he got away."

Chouji, having noticed his teammate's efforts, approached her from behind and cheerfully patted her on the shoulder.

"Cheer up, Ino! We can talk about my dream if you want!"

Rather than talk, the girl sulkingly walked away in another direction. "I'll pass."

Chouji then smacked his forehead self-deprecatingly and muttered to himself. "Stupid stupid stupid. You had her right there and she got away."

At another segment of the immediate area, Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru and Shino, had, at Hinata's request, been looking for Naruto in an effort to discern whether he was okay. However, to their misfortune, they could not find him.

"You worry too much Hinata", Kiba said reassuringly resting one arm on the young hyuuga clansmen's shoulder. "You saw Naruto throughout this war; he can take care of himself."

"I know, but I just want to make sure."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. Your dream was about Naruto."

Hinata's face turned beat red. "H-how did you know?"

"What else would you dream about? Honestly, I don't know what you see in that guy."

"My roaches have cleanly sweeped everything nearby, but don't detect any sign of Madara, Zetsu or Naruto", Shino remarked. "Perhaps he did what others are already starting to do and headed back to the village. I suggest we begin heading there as well."

"I guess that makes sense", the byakuugan user responded.

Akamaru barked affirmatively and Kiba nodded his head. "Right, lets start making our way back."

Finally, at the furthest corners of the battlefield, outside the range of everyone else, Orochimaru and Kabuto had been walking side by side, knowing what would happen were wanted criminals such as themselves willing to stick around.

"I've gotta say, the generosity you showed throughout this war was rather uncharacteristic of you", Kabuto remarked, recalling the efforts Orochimaru made to help Sasuke and inadvertently everyone else.

"Rest assured, Kabuto. Each of my efforts were calculated to better serve my own ends. Besides, no matter how pleasing it was, it'd be awfully inconvenient to be trapped inside the infinite tsukiyomi for the remainder of eternity."

"Pleasing?", Kabuto asked, curious about his master's dreams.

"Hmmph, I will say this much. My experience today has given me much needed clarity towards my true goals. To that, I owe Madara my eternal gratitude."

"I see. And what of Sasuke? What is his place in all of this?"

This, for some reason, made the legendary sannin laugh maniacally. "That still remains to be seen."

[. . . . . . .]

Much time had passed since Naruto and Sasuke dispelled Madara's grand genjutsu. It was 11:58 pm. Although no one had yet returned from the battlefield where the Fourth Great Shinobi War had taken place, the villagers in the leaf village had all returned to their normal selves. After talking with Kakashi, Kurenai, Konohamaru and a number of genin did their best efforts to inform the villagers that the war was over and they no longer had anything to worry about.

At the village gates, Sakura was still standing, gazing north, the direction Naruto had taken that morning. The pink haired medical ninja had not eaten since the previous night where she and Kakashi ate Naruto's homemade ramen. Her parents, aware that she was in the village, had made several attempts to get her to come inside and rest, but she turned down them down on each attempt.

Fifteen seconds after the clock hit 11:59 pm, something could be seen moving in the trees beyond the village. Although it was dark, the torches at the village gates provided some semblance of light. What's more, since her days at the academy, the young kunoichi had long been trained how to use her senses at night. Thus, there was no mistake that whatever was approaching was a teenage male.

As the boy concealed by the night drew closer, the pink haired medical ninja's eyes beamed with joy. The girl was about to run out to greet this human, only to hear him say the word . . .

"Stop", the boy calmly requested. "I'm technically not in the leaf village yet."

Sakura honored the boy's request and allowed him to walk closer and closer unaided.

Kakashi, who had been monitoring the scene from a tree nearby quickly leaped down, having spotted several genin about to pass by. He had earlier instructed some of the genin to perform guard patrol around the city gates until the leaf ninjas attending the Fourth Great Shinobi War returned. However, he didn't want them to interfere with this moment, thus, motioned for them to head in another direction, implying that he would take over.

As the boy got closer, it was clear he was pulling something, or rather someone. The sight of this caused Sakura to smile even brighter.

Thirty seconds had passed since the boy had been spotted from the distance. His legs giving out, the boy collapsed to the ground.

Sakura again attempted to rush to the boy's aid, but was once more halted by the same request.

"Stop. Just a few more feet!"

"You don't have to do this!", the pink haired medical ninja cried.

"I made a promise. I said I would bring Sasuke back to the village today and that's what I'm gonna do!"

The boy placed the rope in his mouth and bit down hard on it. Then with the last vestige of his strength, he used his right arm to crawl his way into the leaf village with an unconscious Sasuke in tow with two seconds left to spare before midnight.

With that, the boy collapsed, no longer being able to move. Even so, the boy, in that position did the same nice guy pose he had done on the previous evening; The same nice guy pose he made before promising to bring Sasuke back 3 years ago.

The boy panted heavily, but did his best to make sure his eyes were meeting the medical ninja's. "There . . . I did it, Sakura-chan",

Tears flooded the Haruno girl's eyes. "Naruto . . . thank you"

_. . ._

_End of Chapter _

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**Author's Notes:  
**

**(1) **And this chapter **right here** is why I wrote the fight the way it was. It's the main reason I wanted to redo the entire fight to be honest. One reviewer accused me of being a Sasuke fanboy (if he only knew . . . hahaha). Far from it. Rather, in order for Sasuke to even **consider** changing his ways, he has to see for himself the legitimacy of his beliefs. Here, despite having every conceivable advantage over Naruto, he still lost. And as one reviewer put it, the nature of his loss is pretty much a middle finger to Sasuke. In my eyes, writing this fight was never simply about making it more entertaining than the original, but rather to demonstrate why Naruto is better than Sasuke. I gave Naruto the heavier burden to carry, because in the end, that just shows how much better he is. Sasuke had to stack the deck and use every trick he could think of, but still lost.

Now don't get me wrong. Although I'm no Sasuke fanboy, I don't particularly hate him either (although I do think too much of this manga was about him and the Uchihas), but he has to see and experience why he's wrong firsthand. Maybe, just maybe, this "strength through pain" mantra is not what he made it out to be for so long. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as telling him he's a mass-murdering lunatic, haha, hence them having to fight in the first place.

Now does this mean Sasuke is suddenly going to start singing kumbaya? **Absolutely not.** This is a different Sasuke than the one in the original ending. I don't intend for him to have the same outcome as he did in the original and that doesn't just mean that I won't have SasuSaku happen. Though you'll see what I mean over the next 2 chapters.

**(2)** One reviewer asked why Naruto didn't use sage mode during the third stage of the fight. I think I can go back and make a few edits to make this more clear, but Naruto was too exhausted and too debilitated. I imagine it was the same in the original version of the fight (after Naruto and Sasuke clashed with their strongest attacks).

**(3)** On another point regarding the disparity between Naruto and Sasuke in my version, as I've explained elsewhere, you have to keep in mind that Sasuke received the power of all the tailed beast, had the rinnegan and was (in some respects) compare to Hagaramo himself during the fight. It took Naruto and Sasuke working together to fight an opponent with those powers. Naruto fighting such an opponent alone? I'm sorry, but logically, Naruto is going to have a hard time at bare minimum. Of course, you're welcome to disagree with me on that, but perhaps we can at least agree that I'm not just pulling stuff out of nowhere.

**(4) **Yes, I killed yin-Kurama off, but just as I don't believe in death not being permanent, I also don't believe death should be pointless. And that's all I'm gonna say on that for now! ;)

**(5) **This fic showcases chapters 693 - 700. Last week's chapter was 697. This chapter is 698. And the next chapter will be 699!

**(6) **I will wrap up just about everyone by the time this fic ends, so don't worry about that! I haven't forgotten anyone! ;)

Thanks for reading! Tune in next chapter!


	7. Chapter 699: The Shape of Happiness

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

* * *

**\- - -The Shape of Happiness - - -**

Four weeks had come and gone since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Most of the United Shinobi Alliance had returned to their various villages, now in the process of caring for their wounded and paying final respects to those that had fallen.

In the village of the hidden leaf, no funeral was more moving than that of the late Neji Hyuuga. Despite past hostility within the Hyuuga clan, both members of the Main House and Branch House openly mourned his loss, none moreso than Hinata and her father Hiashi. The remaining members of Team Gai, Gai, Lee and Tenten openly mourned the loss of their deceased comrade.

But, even with all the mourning, there was also celebration. And not just over the war being won, but out of love and admiration for the three day battle's hero: Naruto Uzumaki. Various feasts were hosted in his name, a parade had been thrown, with Naruto balloons and even a song composed as the official 'Naruto Theme Song', had been thrown in his honor. Various vendors were even selling Naruto dolls to the leaf village's children. The heroism the young jinchuriki had shown throughout the war was very impressionable and of the sort that simply could not be forgotten. Second to a certain demand in particular, demands were even made that a whole day be set aside and celebrated as "Naruto Uzumaki day."

In light of a certain demand, Tsunade, the leaf village's Hokage, had decided that it was high time she paid Naruto a visit. She promptly headed to the Konoha hospital, the location Naruto had been resting all throughout the past four weeks. Even as the Hokage, she had a difficult time reaching the blond haired leaf ninja. Thousands of people, many not even from the village, surrounded the hospital, trying to get inside, hoping to see Naruto. Security in the hospital was extra tight because of this.

Nonetheless, Tsunade steered her way past the crowds and finally managed to reach the young jinchuriki's room on the top floor. As the legendary Sannin entered the room, she noticed a boy with white hair sitting in a bed on one side of the room. On the other side, she saw Naruto sitting in an identical bed, with her former apprentice standing by his side, using a needle to inject some kind of serum into the boy's left arm.

Naruto winced in pain. "Yowch! Not so rough, Sakura-chan."

The pink haired medical ninja rolled her eyes. "Quit being a baby. If you can handle Madara, Kaguya and Sasuke, you can handle a shot."

The blond haired leaf ninja looked towards the door, now noticing the fifth Hokage's presence. "Granny Tsunade!"

Tsunade warmly smiled. "Good afternoon, Naruto. I trust your arm is healing nicely."

The boy cheerfully nodded his head. "You bet! Sakura-chan's taken good care of me."

Sakura sighed. "It's been a hassle. He told me he had broken his arm, but when I examined it, every single bone, from his fingers to his shoulder, was crumbled down to the size of pebbles, some to dust. I practically had to reconstruct and mend his entire arm."

"Sakura, who is this other fellow?", Tsunade said, glancing at the other boy in the room.

"Oh him? That's Ekusas. We're treating so many injured shinobi from the war, that there wasn't enough space to give him his own room. Fortunately, Naruto was gracious enough to share this room with him."

The legendary sannin approached the boy with white hair. "Aren't you lucky! So many are desperately trying to get a peek at the war's hero, but you're actually sharing the same room with him."

The white haired boy excitedly pumped his fist. "It's so awesome! Naruto is so unbelievably cool! He's even cooler than I heard. My friends will never believe I got to see him in person."

The blond haired leaf ninja cheerfully laughed while rubbing the back of his head. "If you want, I can get you an autograph before you check out!"

"That would be so awesome!"

Tsunade chuckled to herself. "_I don't think I'll ever get used to Naruto being so popular_."

The pink haired medical ninja glanced in her former teacher's direction. "I take it you aren't just here for a social call."

"Indeed, I came to check on Naruto and see if he'd be well enough to attend a meeting tomorrow afternoon, 3:00 pm, sharp."

"Sure! Sakura-chan tells me my arm should be fully healed by tomorrow. What's up?"

The fifth Hokage winked. "It's a proposal I can't tell you about just yet, but it's something I think you'll be interested in."

"_What could she be talking about?"_, Naruto thought.

Tsunade began to leave the room, waving one hand. "We'll talk more tomorrow. Until then."

As soon as the legendary sannin left the room, Sakura began to speak. "That's some genjutsu you've got there, Sasuke. Even Lady Tsunade didn't notice a thing."

"Hmph", the white haired boy responded. "I didn't expect her to. Hokage or not, she doesn't come close to my level."

Sasuke had used his genjutsu skills to give himself the appearance of a seventeen year old boy with white hair to everyone, but a select few people, two of whom were present in the room.

Naruto smiled cheekily. "Sasuke, I can still make that autograph for you if you want!"

The rogue ninja lifted himself out the bed, grabbed a pair of crutches nearby and began to exit the room, using said crutches for support. "Shut up, moron."

"Sasuke, where are you going?", the young kunoichi asked.

"I'll be on the roof getting some fresh air", the Uchiha said before shutting door behind him."

Once Sasuke was out of sight, Sakura turned her attention to the blond haired leaf ninja.

The girl immediately took on a serious demeanor. "Naruto, now that he's gone, there's something we need to discuss."

Recognizing the shift in his teammate's tone, the boy put his usual goofiness aside and listened attentively. "What's this about, Sakura-chan?"

"I told Lady Tsunade about your broken arm and mentioned a few other basic injuries. But she knows nothing about the abnormalities in your chest or the myocardial infarction-"

"Myocar-what?", the boy interrupted, confused.

"Sorry, heart attack. The one you had been experiencing for a full day. So right now, I want you to tell me everything you can about this 'omni release' of yours.

Naruto sighed. "I guess I should start with my Omni Style: Yellow Flash. You never saw it, but when I first got full control over the nine tails chakra, I had found that Akatsuki member, Kisame I think. He was caught spying on us and tried to get away. I tried to get him with the bodyflicker jutsu, but was so unused to being in that state that I accidentally ended up doing something else."

Sakura's eyes widened with curiosity. "Something else?"

"Yeah. I had to practice it a bunch of times to figure out what I was doing, but instead of just shooting a quick burst of chakra down to my feet, as I would with the bodyflicker technique, I keep a constant stream of chakra flowing down there and am . . . squeezing it out."

"Squeezing?"

The blond haired leaf ninja scratched his chin and pondered on his words. "I guess it's like using a plastic bottle of ketchup. The bodyflicker would be like opening the ketchup bottle and pouring some ketchup on your food. My jutsu is like that, except I'm also squeezing the bottle with one hand and hitting the bottom of the bottle with the other. The ketchup comes out much faster."

"I never saw you doing anything like this during the war."

"I used it a few times when the Raikage was trying to keep me from entering the war and also a few times against Obito. But at a certain point, Kurama recommended me to stop using it."

"Why?"

"He noticed that the more times I was using it, the less control I had over it. I had already practiced using it a bunch of times earlier in the day, so I was already going past my limit when I fought the Raikage. Kurama figured that if I tried using it against Obito or Madara, it wouldn't be very effective and would only set me up for a counter attack.."

"I think I understand what the issue was. Think of Lee's ability to open the eight gates. Usually, a shinobi's chakra pathway system limits the overflow of chakra within a person's body. By opening the sixth gate, the Gate of View, for example, one can drastically increase their chakra flow, increasing their speed and power. However, you aren't opening gates. You're doing something just as dangerous to bypass the limits the chakra pathway system imposes; you're rapidly squeezing the nodes in your legs and feet to pump out far more chakra than humanly possible."

The blond haired leaf ninja laughed cheerfully while rubbing the back of his head. "When you put it like that, Kurama's advice made a heck of a lot more sense than I originally thought."

"Naruto!", the medical ninja exclaimed, still maintaining her serious composure. "You still ended up using this technique when you fought Sasuke. Tell me a little more about that."

"Yeah, well Kurama and I were shooting around ideas about how to fight Sasuke. I suggested this idea that had been floating around in my head ever since I got the Sage of Six Path powers. I saw the Raikage moving really fast with just lightning chakra and wondered if I could do something similar. And that's when it hit me. Maybe I could use all five chakra natures to improve my technique. I spent a good hour working out the details, but it basically works like this: (1) I use earth chakra to harden the chakra nodes in my legs, so I don't have to worry about damaging them. (2) I add water chakra to the earth chakra, so that although the nodes are harder, they're still bendable enough to be squeezed back and forth. (3) I use lightning chakra to increase the rate at which I can squeeze chakra out of my legs. (4) I use fire chakra to ignite all the chakra squeezed out of my legs, thrusting my movement speeds even faster. (5) And I used wind chakra to fan the fire chakra, making it that much stronger and faster."

The girl looked upon her companion, astonished at his achievement. Very few ninja even mastered both shape and nature manipulation, much less more than two elements, but here Naruto was using all five in an ingenious way he had thought up in no more than an hour. The way other villagers had been talking about him those days, one would think the young leaf ninja was a god, but with feats like these, perhaps they weren't that far off. Still, there was a drawback with this 'Omni Style: Yellow Flash.' One the medical kunoichi had become well familiar with over the past month.

"Naruto, does this 'Omni Style: Rasenshuriken' also comprise of using all five elements?"

The blond haired leaf ninja nodded his head. "Yeah, but it's actually a lot simpler than the 'Yellow Flash.' (1) I use chakra arms infused with Six Paths chakra to concentrate the nature transformations into the center of a rasengan. (2) Then, on the outer layer, I use Senjutsu chakra to keep the inner layers compact and stable. (3) I then turn it into a rasenshuriken."

"What about that hole in the sky where the valley of the end used to be?"

The boy scratched his head. "I have no idea how that happened. I didn't even notice it was there until after I had beaten Sasuke."

"At any rate, I think I understand your condition a little more now."

Naruto eyes widened in shock. Whatever Sakura was talking about, it sounded ominous to say the least. "My . . . condition?"

The pink haired kunoichi's eyes saddened. "Yes. When you came back to the village that night, you were so close to dying that I had to immediately administer cardiac surgery. I saved you in time, but after days of additional diagnosis, I noticed an irregularity on both your heart and the chakra nodes running through it. It was the first time I had ever seen anything like it. It looked like . . . a gash. If I had to give it a name, I'd call it a chakra scar."

"Chakra scar?"

Sakura nodded her head. "Normally, people tend to use nature transformation jutsus they have a natural affinity towards. This is not just because mastering other nature transformations is more difficult, but also because it's more draining. Even though Kakashi-sensei is skilled with all the nature transformations, he still falls back on his lightning techniques for this very reason."

"But I have a lot more chakra than Kakashi-sensei."

"And that's the problem. Even though you have more chakra, your chakra pathway system was developed to primarily handle wind chakra. Even though you found a way to prevent yourself from destroying the nodes in your legs, the stress in using other nature transformations, much less all five at once is too great when so much chakra is being pumped throughout your body."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if you keep using either of those jutsus, the stress will cause your heart to burst wide open."

"I see", the boy sighed. "Then in that case, I'll just use them when there's an emergency."

Sakura's eyes narrowed feverishly. "I forbid it."

"There's something else you aren't telling me, isn't there?"

"Naruto, that chakra scar on your heart . . . it's been getting slightly bigger each week since I initially observed it."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning whether you use those jutsus or not, it's going to get bigger until your heart eventually splits open regardless. Using those jutsus again is just going to speed up the process."

"How much time do I have before that happens?"

"By my estimation, if you don't use those jutsus again, twenty years. If you do use them again, weeks at most."

The blond haired leaf ninja looked down into the palm of his hand, silently contemplating the news he had just received. To hear someone inform you that you have a limited amount of time to live is not something to be taken lightly, even to someone like Naruto.

"I'm just thankful you're alive.", the pink haired kunoichi said, placing a hand on her chest. "When I had been doing surgery on your heart, it looked as if someone pierced a sword right through it, but you were breathing even still."

Naruto looked up at his companion, confused about her last comment. "But a sword was pierced through my chest. During our fight, Sasuke used that lightning sword attack of his to run me through."

Sakura appeared befuddled. "No . . . it can't be. You spent hours walking back to the leaf village. How could you have survived that?"

"Maybe I'm just that tough!", Naruto playfully boasted.

The girl slapped her companion on the back of the head. "Idiot!"

"Owe! What was that for?"

"Take off your shirt", the medical ninja bluntly ordered.

"I'm flattered Sakura-chan, but shouldn't we have dinner first?"

"This is serious! Take off your shirt!"

"Okay okay", Naruto muttered, removing his t-shirt.

The Haruno girl calmly closed her eyes and promptly placed the palm of her right hand on Naruto's chest. She stood in this posture before finally resolutely opening her eyes again.

"Of course. It explains everything! Naruto, the reason you survived is-"

But the young medical ninja was interrupted. For at the very moment, Naruto felt a sensation within him that he hadn't felt since his battle with the lone Uchiha warrior; the boy's body was visibly radiating with nine tails chakra. Not the dark red violent kind of the past, but the bright yellow kind he had acquired shortly before the war.

The boy's eyes brightened with joy as he sensed the presence of an old friend within him. "Kurama!"

Naruto then found himself inside his mental realm. The last time he had visited this place, it was during Yin-Kurama's final moments. Naruto looked around left and right and spotted the nine tailed fox standing in his usual place. The boy dashed towards his tailed beat companion, only to give him a tight hug.

The fox gave a slight blush. "Alright, enough of that, brat. You're embarrassing me."

The young jinchuriki released his companion from his grip. "_I thought you died. How did you come back?_"

The tailed beast instantly glanced over all of Naruto's memories. "_Ah, you're referring to my yin-half. No, he's gone for good._"

The leaf ninja sighed. "_I see. But what about you? I thought Sasuke sealed you away with his rinnegan_."

"_I did too. But before I knew it, I found myself right back in here. It didn't take much to seal my yin-half in you before. Perhaps sealing is easier for a willing jinchuriki and willing tailed beast_."

"_Maybe, but who sealed you back_?", Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"_Who else?_"

"_Sasuke? But why would he . . . and how?"_

"_You're better off asking him that question."_

[. . . . . . .]

Meanwhile, the Uchiha warrior was standing atop the Konoha hospital at his lonesome. As if he had just endured some great ordeal, he had been sweating profusely and panting heavily. A small trail of blood was even flowing out of his rinnegan eye. And even though he stood with the support of two crutches, he appeared as if he was about to collapse to the ground.

Sakura, having just walked up to the rooftop area herself appeared on the scene and noticed her former teammate losing his balance. Almost instinctively, the young medical ninja dashed in to catch him before he fell.

"This is the fourth time this week you've been up here all by yourself." Sakura remarked, holding Sasuke in her arms. "You really can't be pushing yourself like this. I've done everything I can with your injuries, but you really need to rest."

The rogue ninja didn't respond. Rather, he continued breathing heavily.

"_Sasuke . . . what was going through your head that time so long ago."_

The pink haired kunouchi recalled an experience in the distant past. It was the day she, Sasuke and Naruto had all been placed on the same team. As she was daydreaming on a bench under a cherry blossom tree, the Uchiha warrior had been leaning up against a tree nearby, looking right at her, with warm affectionate eyes; to the Haruno girl, it looked as if he were staring into her very heart. Many times prior to that encounter, she had daydreamed about him walking up to her and complimenting the feature she was most insecure about-her forehead.

"_You sure have a large charming forehead", _the young Uchiha had said, standing in front of the girl. "_Makes me want to kiss it."_

Just hearing these words had caused Sakura's heart to melt. That one moment felt like the resolution to a fairy tale. But alas, it was cut short.

"_Haha. That sounds like something Naruto would say."_

It would seem seriously hearing those words was too good to be true. After all, who in their right mind would ever say something like that about her forehead, she had thought.

"_Sakura, there is something I want to ask you: What do you think of Naruto?"_

The question had come across as strange and unexpected, but it was certainly one the pink haired kunoichi didn't have trouble answering at the time.

"_He's always getting in my way when I do something important. And he enjoys seeing me struggle. Naruto doesn't understand anything about me. He's just annoying. All I want is for you to acknowledge me."_

The girl had then glanced into the young Uchiha's eyes, noticing a peculiar look on his face. It was if he was staring not just into her heart, but her very soul. And it wasn't a calculating look, but a look of longing. As if he would go through hell itself just to be with her. It was a look of love and a look of purity. And it was upon seeing this look that the girl's feelings changed in one instant; what had been a crush moments ago had rapidly transformed into love in the purest sense.

"_And I'm absolutely serious about this! I would do anything because I like you a lot!"_

Following her heart, the girl had closed her eyes and leaned in towards the object of her affection. The young Uchiha had leaned in as well. It looked as if the girl was living in a fairy tale after all.

Unfortunately, cruel fate kept this magical moment from being fulfilled. For one reason or another, Sasuke had gotten up and walked away. As soon as he returned, he had wanted nothing to do with the poor Haruno girl.

Nevertheless, regardless of how he treated her, no matter how far he sunk, no matter what deplorable deeds he committed, the girl always remembered that one look he gave her. Intuitively, she knew that someone with such pure and loving eyes, could never truly be evil. Deep down, Sasuke, her Sasuke loved her every bit as she loved him and it was up to her to save him from the path he was on.

So then why . . . why had nothing changed? Sasuke was finally back in the village, but was as cold and aloof to the girl as ever. Sure, he wasn't threatening to murder anyone at the moment, but still. What was wrong?

And where did those thoughts about Naruto come from? Over the past three weeks, the girl had made multiple efforts to talk to the young jinchuriki, but each and every time, she could never quite figure out what she wanted to say.

"_. . .could I really have feelings for Naruto?", _Sakura thought, helping the rogue ninja walk back to his hospital room.

It was a troubling issue for the medical ninja and these thoughts of her blond haired companion made her feel guilty. As if she was betraying the man who loved her since the beginning.

[. . . . . . .]

And so the day ended just as it had begun and a new day was quick to replace it. The time was 2:55 pm and Naruto, now in his usual attire, had just left the hospital. He free-ran through the streets while always keeping himself out of sight from the people he came across. The leaf ninja usually didn't mind greeting other villagers, even the legions upon legions of fans he had recently acquired.

Nonetheless, the boy had no time for distractions. The Hokage had wanted to meet with him precisely within the next five minutes and so the young jinchuriki was going to comply.

While running, Naruto observed his left hand, moving it back and forth for the first time in weeks. The sight of this put a warm smile on the boy's face.

"_Sakura-chan . . . you really are amazing!"_

"_What do you make of her warnings about your condition? I tried healing it myself, but nothing I do seems to have any effect"_ Kurama remarked, overhearing his companion's thought.

"_If I've really only got twenty years, then that just means we have that much more work to do!"_

Hearing this made the fox laugh. Not mockingly of course, but in a pleased tone. "_I thought as much. These days, even death doesn't seem to be something that can get in your way."_

"_Speaking of death, I don't ever want to ever put you in the same position your other half was in when we fought Sasuke."_

"_Naruto, if it comes down to it, I won't hesitate to do what he did."_

"_I know . . . which is why from here on out, we're both going to get much stronger, not just for your sake, but for his as well. I won't ever forget what he did._"

With that, the leaf ninja made his way to the Hokage mansion. Outside of the balcony area, he noticed a massive crowd of people congregating. There was much chatter and excitement. Several vendors had even set up ramen and eggroll stands, to take advantage of whatever appeared to be going on.

As uncanny a sight it was, however, the young jinchuriki wasn't too concerned. Rather, he continued stealthily avoiding crowds. Naruto could have easily disguised himself with the transformation jutsu, but saw no need of it. His basic stealth skills had improved so much since his days at the academy, that even anbu black ops would be have immense difficulty detecting or tracking him. The leaf ninja wasn't going to be seen unless he wanted to be seen.

And just like that, Naruto opened the door to Tsunade's office before anyone was even aware of him. Upon noticing the boy, the pair of jonin standing guard looked upon him, baffled at him popping up out of nowhere. Not just that, but they observed the nearby clock hanging on the wall; it was 3:00 pm on the dot.

Tsunade, sitting at her desk, glanced in the Uzumaki boy's direction. "Come on in, Naruto."

In addition to the legendary sannin, Kakashi and Iruka were also present in the room for some reason.

Tsunade began to stand up and walk towards the young leaf ninja. "Naruto, do you know why I've called you here today?"

The leaf ninja promptly did a series of arm and leg stretches. "Is it a mission? Sakura-chan thinks I still need more rest, but I think I can handle one."

The legendary medical ninja shook her head and smirked knowingly. "That crowd of people out there. Why do you think they're here?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and giggled. "I guess they all knew I'd be here today and hoped to get a chance to meet me."

"Not quite. They're here because they wish to see their Hokage."

This caused the leaf ninja to laugh. "Really? Looks like we're both really popular now!"

Tsunade sighed. "No Naruto. As of today, I am no longer the leaf village's Hokage."

The young jinchuriki eyes widened in surprise for a moment. He then put two and two and together . . . and cheerfully turned to the silver haired shinobi in the room.

"Congratulations Kakashi-sensei! Never knew you'd be the next Hokage, but I know you're going to be a great one."

Kakashi sighed. "No Naruto. I am not the Hokage"

The boy's eyes widened in surprise once more. If Kakashi wasn't the Hokage, then that could only mean . . . ."

"Wow Iruka-sensei . . . they made you Hokage, huh"

The academy instructor let out a frustrated growl. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Tsunade sighed once more. "No Naruto. Iruka is not the Hokage either."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, now rather confused. "I don't get it, granny Tsunade. If the people outside have come to see the Hokage, shouldn't he or she be here right now?"

The legendary sannin casually grabbed the leaf ninja by the hand and escorted him out to the balcony area.

As the two of them were now in full view of the people congregated outside the mansion, Tsunade lifted Naruto's arm and addressed the crowd. "PEOPLE OF KONOHA! I PRESENT TO YOU THE SIXTH HOKAGE: NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

The crowd roared excitedly, cheering on their hero with a sea of praise. People shouted his name. People thanked him for protecting the village. People expressed joy about him being the new Hokage.

Naruto stood still, shocked by the scene before him. Various moments from the past flashed through his mind. How he had been an outcast. How he had been alone. How he pulled prank after prank in order to garner attention. He recalled the many times he swore he'd become Hokage; he recalled the many times he swore everyone would acknowledge him. And now . . . in light of all of those past experiences . . . this was what they lead to: A dream fulfilled.

The young jinchuriki was so overcome with emotion that he wasn't even aware that tears had been rolling down his cheeks since the announcement. The boy did his best to rub them away. Tsunade, noticing this, let out a small but warm smile.

"It's funny", Iruka said to Kakashi, watching the scene before him. "I had talked to Ibiki after Naruto passed the first phase of the chuunin exam all those years ago. And do you know what Naruto said?"

The leader of team seven glanced at the academy instructor, curious about the answer.

"Even if I'm a genin forever . . . I'll will myself to becoming Hokage anyway, so I don't care!"

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask upon hearing this. "That's right. He never did pass the chuunin exam. Well I'll be."

For several minutes, Naruto waved at his adoring public. It wasn't until Tsunade grabbed his arm and escorted back into Hokage's office that he ceased.

"Thank you Granny Tsunade . . ."

"You don't need to thank me, Naruto. Ever since the war ended, the villagers had been making a plethora of demands, but the most unanimous one was that you be made the new Hokage."

A dumbfounded expression appeared on the boy's face. "R-really?"

"A Hokage is someone acknowledged by the people he protects. Who am I stand in the way of that?"

"But . . . is it really this simple?", Naruto noted, a thought occurring to him. "Don't Hokages need to have more experience? I've never even lead a squad, much less a village."

Tsunade nodded her head knowingly. "Which leads us to the second reason I called you here today. Although you are now Konoha's Hokage, you will be assisted by myself, Kakashi and Iruka until our assistance is no longer necessary. You may pick additional advisers if you like, but we will be your counsel on all major decisions for the time being. Furthermore, for the next year, you will arrive at this office 5:00 am every day to receive administrative training."

"Administrative training?"

"Paper work, budgeting, infrastructure management, hiring and firing employees, the works."

Naruto sighed. "That sounds like a lot."

Tsunade cheekily smiled. "It is. Luckily, we have you for the job. Now go get some rest. Be back here tomorrow, 5:00 am sharp."

And so the young jinchuriki proceeded to exit the Hokage's office just as swiftly as he entered. The administrative training didn't sound enticing to him, but something like that couldn't possibly damper the mood he was in. After all, he was finally the Hokage. His dream had finally been realized.

The boy stood atop the roof of the Hokage mansion, thinking about how he should spend the remainder of the day. He just had to share this life changing news with someone. True, a great deal of villagers already knew, but not everyone.

"_I can't wait to see the look on Sakura-chan's face when she finds out about this!"_

The leaf ninja prepared to free-run back to the Konoha hospital when he was stopped by the words . . .

"Naruto! Wait."

The boy turned around, only to notice the silver haired leader of team seven behind him.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"We haven't gotten much of a chance to talk in a while, but I just wanted to say I'm very proud of you."

The young jinchuriki appeared to be touched by his teacher's sentiments. ". . . Kakashi."

"I'm not sure whether Sasuke has truly changed, but you brought him back alive, just as you said you would."

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you", Naruto said, comfortingly resting one of his hands on one of his sensei's shoulders. "You knew I would have a lot of trouble with Sasuke's genjutsu, didn't you?"

"Hmm?"

"That's why you gave me those fake explosive tags before I left."

Kakashi cheerfully smiled beneath his mask. "Naruto, you don't want to keep Sakura waiting, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

The silver haired jonin swiftly turned around, preparing to walk back down into the mansion, giving a quick a goodbye-wave. "She's waited long enough."

Rather than stand around and ponder on his sensei's words, the Uzumaki boy leaped away, heading straight for the Konoha hospital.

Simultaneously, Kakashi recalled the last exchange he had with his deceased comrade, Obito.

"_I told Naruto just awhile back to become Hokage. The thing is, I told him to be the seventh. Kakashi, you'll be the sixth Hokage."_

The copycat ninja stopped walking for a moment, contemplating on Obito's words and turning around to watch as his student leapt away from building to building.

"_Forgive me Obito . . . but I cannot honor your request. I will never stop doing everything I can to keep him from stumbling, but Konoha deserves its true Hokage. Relics like us have no right to dictate this generation."_

[. . . . . . .]

Elsewhere, at the Konoha Hospital, Sakura was approaching Naruto and Sasuke's room. Apparently, Lady Tsunade had made some big announcement, but the pink haired medical ninja was so focused on her work that she had yet to inquire into it, curious as she was. Whatever the news was, it was big, given that even other doctors were in a jovial mood, some even leaping up and down as if they had won the lottery. Regardless, such an inquiry could wait until later, the girl had thought.

In her hands, she carried a tray holding a plate of riceballs and a glass of water. Usually, she'd simply have a nurse bring patients their food, but the medical ninja made an exception for this patient in particular.

As Sakura entered the room, she immediately noticed that Sasuke was no longer sitting in his bed. Rather, he was standing upright, wearing his usual attire. At that very moment, he was outfitting himself with standard shinobi tools such as kunai, shuriken and smoke bombs. All that was missing was his katana, which Naruto had broken during their battle.

At the sight of this, the pink haired medical ninja instantly dropped the tray on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving", the sharingan warrior responded, still outfitting himself with his tools.

"You're in no condition to . . . how are you even standing?!", Sakura asked, noticing that her former teammate was not using any crutches to leverage himself.

"I'm using a partial Susanno to double as arm and leg braces. It should suffice until I've fully healed."

"Why are you leaving now?"

"I grow tired of rotting in here."

The medical ninja's eyes narrowed. "So what are you going to do now? Try and kill the kages? Go after Naruto again?"

The Uchiha warrior dismissively shook his head. "Nothing of the sort . . . unless they plan on getting in my way."

"But that doesn't answer my question. Where are you off to now?"

Recalling the conversation he had with Naruto before coming back to the leaf village, the sharingan wielder let out a faint smile. "I'm off to find true strength."

Sakura looked at the rogue ninja-confused by his words. "True . . . strength?"

"If I am to give this world true peace, I must have that first and foremost."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds to me that you could just as easily stay here in the leaf village."

"And do what? Use genjutsu to hide from everyone for the remainder of my life?"

"You could also reveal and turn yourself in. You helped out during the war and Naruto, Kakashi and I would be happy to vouch for you. They would have to-"

"Have to what?", Sasuke chuckled cynically. "Give me a full pardon? Orochimaru and Kabuto helped out too. Perhaps you could get them pardons as well."

"That's not what I-"

"I'm an international criminal", the rogue ninja interrupted. "I have no illusions about my status in the world. I'm well aware of my numerous crimes. No judicial system would ever so much as consider granting me a pardon and with good reason. Sasuke Uchiha vanished without a trace after the war. That is what happened"

The medical ninja sighed. "So this is it, then?"

"Yes. No matter how much you and Naruto might want it, there is no place for me here."

"Well . . . if that's what you really want, I can't stop you."

"No . . . but perhaps you can assist me."

The girl found her heart beating faster all of the sudden. "Assist . . . you?"

"You won't ever be able to find a way to cure that condition of his by rotting away in this village."

The pink haired kunoichi was taken aback. "I never told you about that. How did you know?"

The rogue ninja ceased outfitting himself with tools and stood before the girl face to face, his face inches away from hers. "Don't insult me. If you accompany me in my travels, you'll gain far more opportunities to research a cure than you would here."

Around this same moment, Naruto was enthusiastically walking towards his room. Rather than solely relying on stealth again, the leaf ninja decided to leave a shadow clone out in front of the hospital to keep his many fans and admirers at bay. Many villagers, even doctors and able-patients from the hospital were preoccupied with seeing their hero in person. To their delight, the shadow clone was even performing tricks, effortlessly lifting heavy objects with one hand, hitting objects dozens of yards away with his shuriken and even showing onlookers his rasengan.

Insured of no distractions, the young jinchuriki opened the door to his hospital room at his leisure, not being able to delay sharing the big news any longer. However, the boy's senses, even without using sage mode, were incredibly sharp. For just as the door peeled open by a mere two inches, his enthusiasm abandoned him before he even realized it. A feeling just like the one he had during the last occasion he, Sasuke and Sakura were all in the same hospital took over as he peered at a similar sight.

Sakura and Sasuke stood silent, Sasuke's face centimeters away from Sakura's and Sakura blushing uncontrollably. Not having been detected, Naruto gave the same pain ridden smile he had three years ago in this very setting and proceeded to turn around and walk away.

[. . . . . . .]

Most of the leaf villagers were in higher spirits that day than they had been over the course of the prior four weeks. For it was the day Naruto Uzumaki had been announced as their Hokage. Due to this momentous occasion, additional celebrations had been planned, another parade, more banquets and even fireworks throughout the evening.

To the villagers' dismay however, it had started to rain. Not light rain or even moderate rain; thick cumulonimbus clouds hovered over the village and with them came a torrential downpour, the likes of which no outdoor celebration could be held in.

Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, Shino and Kurenai and her infant child had all been present when Tsunade had made the big announcement. They had planned on attending the parade scheduled to take place shortly afterward. Though with the sudden rain, all but two members of Team 8 decided to call it a day and head home.

"Kiba, do you think we'll be able to get a table?", Hinata asked her teammate, both walking under an umbrella, traversing the streets alongside their companion Akamaru.

"Sure we will", the feral shinobi responded. "The place is called 'Naruto's Tailed Beast Feast.' They'll practically be begging to give us the best table in the house once they learn how far we go back with the new Hokage."

"Maybe", the hyuuga girl giggled. "But I'm talking about how packed it's likely to be there . . . especially with all the rain and everything."

"Relax Hinata. If it comes down to it, I can always tell 'em about that time I saved Naruto's life or how he got the idea to be Hokage from me!"

"But none of that sounds . . ."

Mid-sentence, the byakuggan wielder stopped, her superb vision instantly making her aware of something out of the ordinary on the river bridge nearby.

Kiba and Akamura cautiously stopped as well. "What's wrong, Hinata?"

Hinata pointed at the bridge. "It's Naruto."

Kiba and his companion observed the sight before them. Naruto was leaning against the bridge rails, glancing down at the stream of water below. Even though he was being showered by heavy rain, the new Hokage was not phased. Rather, he appeared to be lost in melancholy.

"I know that look all too well", the feral shinobi observed. "Had it a few times myself actually."

"What's it mean?", the hyuuga girl worrisomely asked.

Kiba bellowed with laughter. "He got dumped!"

Hinata gave her teammate a disapproving look. "Kiba!"

"Fine", the feral shinobi sighed. "But if you think about it, this is your big chance."

"Big . . . chance?"

"Well yeah. One thing about being dumped is that it puts you on the rebound. Now's your chance to put your moves on him."

Hinata's cheeks blushed considerably. "I . . . don't . . . have any 'moves.'"

"Lucky for you, you're talking to the king of 'moves'! Here's what you need to do."

The feral shinobi pulled the hyuuga girl in closely and whispered various tidbits of advice. After a full minute of these instructions, Hinata nodded her head and began to approach the blond haired leaf ninja.

The byakuugan wielder trembled nervously. "So . . . are you from around here?"

The Uzumaki boy was unresponsive, still sulking while glaring at the river below. Hinata, glanced towards her teammate who was monitoring the scene from a distance, but he just gave her the thumbs-up sign.

The hyuuga girl, trembling and noticeably sweating profusely at this point, swallowed the lump in her throat. "Um . . . nice day we're having?"

"Oh . . . sorry Hinata", Naruto said in a deadpan voice. "Didn't notice you there."

Hinata suddenly stopped sweating and trembling. "Naruto, what's wrong?

The Uzumaki boy didn't answer. Rather, he remained motionless.

The Hyuuga girl sighed. "It's . . . Sakura, isn't it?"

Naruto took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

Hinata found herself recalling what happened after Naruto defeated Pain. Not only had he been given a hero's welcome, the first one he had ever received, but his teammate with the cherry blossom hair had punched him in the head, voicing concerns about his recklessness. She then grabbed the blond haired leaf ninja and gave him a tender embrace, thanking him for his heroic efforts.

But this was not the first time the byakuggan wielder had taken notice of the Haruno girl's unusual relationship with Naruto. Just as often as she'd yell and even hit the boy, she'd also be tender with him. What's more, often times, when the young jinchuriki wasn't looking, the pink haired kunoichi would, for no apparent reasons, be affectionately smiling at him from afar. The very same sort of affectionate smile the hyuuga girl often had about the boy.

"Naruto, don't give up on her!"

The new Hokage immediately ceased glaring at the river below and instead shifted his complete and undivided attention to Hinata.

"Watching you for all these years, you always taught me to never give up. Well today, I'm going to ask you to do the same!"

Hearing these words coming from Hinata evoked memories about her, particularly the bravery she showed when the boy had faced Pain and also the declaration she had made to him back then.

"But Hinata, why are you telling me this?"

The Hyuuga girl let out a warm smile. "Because like you, I wouldn't hesitate to let go of the person I love if it would make them happy."

Naruto threw both of his arms around the girl, hugging her tightly.

"Hinata . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry I never said anything to you after I beat Pain. I just . . . believe me, in another life-"

"Naruto . . . don't keep her waiting."

With that, the new Hokage nodded his head in affirmation and ran off into the distance. Hinata watched closely, tears pouring out of her eyes as soon as he was out of sight.

Kiba approached the hyuuga girl. "Nice going, Hinata. You let him get away. Now who's gonna get us a free meal at the restaurant?"

The byukkagan wielder continued to sob. "Sorry . . . Kiba."

"Look Hinata, if you ask me, you're better off without him. Guys like that aren't that great anyway."

"You . . . don't understand. Naruto is-"

"Dumber than dirt for passing up a catch like you!", the feral shinobi interrupted, visibly frustrated. "If you ask me, you should be going after someone like me, someone who sees and loves you for who you are. Not someone who likes getting yelled at and beat up all the time."

"Kiba, am I hearing things?", the byukkagan wielder asked, attempting to the rub the tears from her eyes. "Or did you just say you . . . see and love me for who I am?"

The feral shinobi's face turned beet red. As if turnabout were fair play, now he was the one sweating and flustering.

"Um . . . well . . . the thing is . . ."

". . . Kiba?"

"You know what? Screw it! I'm laying all the cards on the table! That's right, you didn't hear wrong."

". . . I had no idea."

"Seeing you look at Naruto all the time, it used to bug the crap outta me. I thought you were a creepy stalker. But . . . somewhere along the lines, I started getting jealous. I didn't know what you saw in Naruto, but whatever it was, I wanted you to see that in me. Hell, part of the reason I was so excited about fighting Naruto back during the chuunin exam was because I figured that if I beat him, you'd start looking at me the way you were looking at him."

"Kiba, I-"

The feral shinobi tenderly latched onto one of the hyuuga girl's hands, using both of his. "Hinata, just give me a chance. I promise - I'll make you happier than Naruto ever could."

The byukkgan wielder rubbed away the remaining tears in her eyes and giggled innocently. Kiba, having been dumped and rejected many times prior to this encounter, immediately misunderstood this reaction. The hope is in his eyes dissipated. He looked away, his shoulders sagging – the look of one who had gambled everything and lost.

"Yeah", Kiba said with a heavy sigh. "I guess this is just something else I don't compare to Naruto in."

Hinata affectionately held one of her hands against one of her companion's cheeks, causing him to yet again blush. "No . . . that's not it. You cheered me up is all. Thank you"

Like that, the feral shinobi's confidence returned. Full of vigor and enthusiasm, he swept the Hyuuga girl off her feet and the two lovingly gazed into each other's eyes.

"I don't know about you, Hinata, but I'm suddenly in the mood to eat some place more . . . private."

" . . . then lead the way."

Princess carrying Hinata in his arms, Kiba, dashed away from the scene, off into another part of the village with Akamaru following behind.

[. . . . . . .]

As the rain continued to poor, Naruto rushed back to the hospital, preparing to do something he knew should've done a long time ago. For months now, he stood behind the excuse of not yet having kept his promise to bring Sasuke back. But perhaps the reason for this delay was much simpler. The boy had faced powerful ninjas, contended with opponents who had god like abilities and even faced death itself. He had conquered the impossible several times over in the span of a few days alone.

But even so, despite all of that, one thing that terrified him, even then, was a fear that plagued just about every human: Rejection. Naruto didn't mind asking the Haruno girl out on dates and even engaging in light flirting every now and then; he knew it wouldn't be taken seriously and would thus never pose any real risk. But actually letting her know the full brunt of his feelings?

The young jinchuriki knew he was taking a large risk; in truth, he'd feel more confident facing Sasuke, Kaguya and Madara at the same time. The woman he loved, the object of his affections, had long proclaimed love for his former arch-rival. Even on that very day, the blond haired leaf ninja walked in on the two of them doing who knows what.

But despite the risk, he couldn't give up. If it came down to it, Naruto was prepared to move on; like Hinata, he would do anything to make the person he loved happy. But before doing that, he had to make one last attempt to win Sakura's heart. And no amount of fear was going to stop him from facing this challenge

Alas, the challenge came sooner than expected. For before the new Hokage, further up the street, glaring at him was Sakura herself. Like him, she was carrying no umbrella and was thus soaked from head to toe. Moreover, based on her appearance, it was clear that she had been running as well.

Though there was another irony that warranted attention. To the side of the road rested an all too familiar bench standing under a tree. It was here that Naruto first realized the reason why he liked Sakura so much. Like him, she simply wanted to be acknowledged and was determined to do what it took to get this acknowledgment. Her pursuits however, weren't quite like Ino or the other girls'. Rather, there was something noble about them; something the boy understood and respected more than anyone else in the world.

Both Naruto and Sakura walked towards one another, neither displaying any concern about the rain. Once each was within one foot of the other, they stopped.

Sakura looked her friend directly in the eyes. "Naruto, there's something I've been wanting to-"

"You sure have a large charming forehead. Makes me want to kiss it", the boy quickly interrupted. As long as Sakura did not yet say anything, he knew he couldn't be rejected and her and Sasuke being together was not yet true. "Haha. That's sounds like something Naruto would say."

The girl instantly found herself standing stock-still, looking as if she had just seen a ghost. No . . . this . . . it was more unnerving than a mere ghost. Her entire world had been torn down with the utterance of three mere sentences.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto was anxiously waiting for the girl's answer.

And suddenly, from the girl's perspective, just like everything had been torn down, everything was starting to piece itself together. The way Sasuke behaved on and off the bench. His cold demeanor towards her since then. These thoughts she had been having about Naruto. It all made sense now.

"That . . . was you?"

"I'll understand if you're angry. I shouldn't have tricked you. But in those days, I would come up with all sorts of schemes just to be around you. Even when you would yell at me for being an idiot, I didn't mind. Of all the people I wanted to be acknowledged by, I wanted you to acknowledge me the most. I guess what I'm saying is . . . I've loved you since the day I first laid eyes on you. And . . . I don't think I'll ever stop loving you . . . even if you've chosen Sasuke."

She looked down at the ground, hiding the look on her face. "You're damn right I'm angry."

". . . Sakura-chan."

"You're a jerk, you know that? Half of me wants to beat the crap out of you right now."

"And the other half?"

"Wants to know why you let me fall in love with the wrong person? How could I not have seen it? The one I've truly been in love with has been standing in front of me all along."

Naruto was stunned and speechless. He had heard Sakura confess to him before, but this time, there wasn't any sort of doubt coating the words. Could it be?

"When I was alone with Sasuke in the hospital, our eyes met. But as I gazed into them, I didn't see the eyes I saw three years ago. I didn't see the eyes I'm seeing from you now. The eyes that melted my heart within one glance. It was only then that I knew I couldn't be with him; instead, I found myself running away, desperately searching for you. It's funny. Somewhere, deep down, I knew the truth. My heart knew what my brain did not. That time you went berserk at the Techni bridge, even Yamato had seen right through me. Even when you accused me of lying to myself in the Land of Iron, I was legitimately angry with you. I never really understood why though . . . until now."

Naruto listened eagerly to every word, astonished that they were actually coming from Sakura. "_She means it! She means every word!"_

"I was lying to myself, but not just then. No, since the first day we met. I couldn't believe it but everything about you made me happy, from your stupid pranks to your impossible dream. And no matter how horrible I treated you, no matter how much I lied to you, no matter how much pain I caused you, no matter how much I didn't acknowledge your feelings, you kept on doing everything you could to make this blind selfish girl with a large forehead happy."

It was then that Sakura raised her head, showing her face, tears rolling down her cheeks, looking upon the blond haired leaf ninja with the most loving and sincere pair of eyes. "What I'm trying to say is . . . thank you, Naruto Uzumaki. Thank you for loving me."

"Sakura-chan . . . I don't know what to say."

The medical ninja gently and affectionately placed her index finger on the boy's lips. "Then just shut up and kiss me, you idiot."

These words were rather gentle, even the last one, despite prior experience. So gentle that as they left the Haruno girl's mouth, Naruto took her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers. Years of pent up longing and desire were being flushed out as he passionately locked his lips with hers with every fiber of his being

For the first time in years, Sakura wasn't plagued by guilt or uncertainty. Everything felt . . . right . . . as if everything was the way it was supposed to be. Being in Naruto's arms like this . . . it was a moment she wouldn't mind lasting for an eternity. This was the shape of happiness.

As the two lovers shared their long awaited moment, Sasuke stood from atop a nearby rooftop, watching over the scene while holding an umbrella in his left hand. The rogue ninja let out a sincere smile before turning around and walking away.

The Uchiha warrior made his way to the village gates, very few people nearby due to the rain and no chance of being detected due to his genjutsu appearance. As he stood at the gates, he observed his former sensei, Kakashi, standing before him, equipped with an umbrella.

"That was a kind thing you did there. Putting Sakura in a situation where she'd finally come around to Naruto."

The sharingan wielder glared at the copycat ninja with a nonchalant poker face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Kakashi sighed. "I suppose you don't. But tell me: Over the course of four days, why did you release and return all of the tailed beasts?"

"It seems that even without your sharingan, you're as perceptive as ever. The tailed beasts are useless to me; I have no need for dead weight."

"Why return the nine tails to Naruto? Isn't he your enemy?"

"Hmph, lets just call it a whim", the rogue ninja smirked.

[. . . . . . .]

Not too long after Naruto and Sakura's intimate kiss, the rain had come to a halt. Rays of sunlight were starting to pierce through the dark clouds that had gathered over the village. To insure that they would not be disturbed by the resurgent celebratory crowds, the two ventured atop the Hokage mountain, in a space beyond the reach of normal villagers.

The two shinobi sat alone looking down upon the village from up high, with the Naruto's arm wrapped around Sakura.

"Becoming Hokage and kissing Sakura-chan on the same day. If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up."

Sakura leaned in closely and started blowing in the boy's ear. "Trust me Naruto. You aren't dreaming", the girl seductively whispered.

The blond haired leaf ninja blushed uncontrollably. ". . . Sakura-chan!"

The pink haired medical ninja giggled. Despite all of his perverted antics, he was as chaste as a choir boy when it came down to it.

As his heart was beating faster and faster, a thought occurred to the young jinchuriki. "Before we got interrupted earlier, you were going to tell me something about my heart."

The Haruno girl looked surprise. "Oh that?! I almost forgot!"

"What did you learn?"

"Naruto, during the war, back when Madara sucked the nine tails out of you, you don't know what happened afterwards, do you?"

"All I remember is waking up after the Sage of Six Paths gave me his power."

"I thought as much. While you were unconscious, I was doing everything I could to keep you alive. I administered CPR and even pumped your heart manually. But to really keep your life from fading away, I channeled the full strength of my Creation Rebirth jutsu into your heart to stimulate it directly until the nine tails could be resealed into you. But at the time, I thought the effects would only be temporary. Instead, to some extent, they continue to persist even as we speak. It's as if a part of myself has been merged with you."

"Wow Sakura-chan, you're incredible! Does this mean that chakra-scar in my heart will go away?"

"I'm afraid not", the girl sighed. "I don't how, but your scar seems to be immune to every treatment and healing technique I know of. Which is why I've made a decision."

Naruto frowned, not liking the sound of this. "Decision?"

"I've decided to leave the leaf village."

"But . . . why?"

"Don't worry, it'll only be temporary, but I'm going to travel the world and search for a way to heal you."

"Sakura-chan . . . you don't have to do that."

"But I do. Now more than ever. I can't bear the thought of knowing we won't grow old together!"

"But you can't go alone. Maybe I can . . ."

"No", the medical ninja interrupted. "You're the Hokage now. You can't afford to leave the village on a whim. It's your job to stay here and protect it."

"But who's going to go with you? Don't tell me it's Sasuke."

The Haruno girl giggled. "We haven't been together for more than 20 minutes and you're already at the jealous and possessive stage."

"I'm not jealous!", Naruto retorted, noticeably flustered.

"You don't have to worry. Sasuke made the offer earlier, but I turned him down. Besides, I can take care of myself just fine, or does Konoha's new Hokage need a personal demonstration?"

"No no, I'll pass!", the young jinchuriki said, a thick layer of fear and panic in his voice.

"Just remember, Naruto. That heart of yours belongs to me now. So take good care of it while I'm gone or else I'll never forgive you."

The blond haired leaf ninja quickly pecked his loving companion on her charming forehead. "It has always been yours, Sakura-chan . . . and it always will be."

Sakura rested her head on Naruto's shoulders and the two lovers watched the sun set.

"_Naruto . . . I will find a way to cure you . . . consider this my promise of a lifetime."_

[. . . . . . .]

And so that day finally came to an end. In the days afterward, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all began new journeys, each with new and meaningful tales to be told. Naruto began his path towards fitting into the role of Hokage. Sakura began searching the world for a way to cure her beloved. And Sasuke began heading towards a path that students of history would one day recognize as one that reshaped the entire world. Alas, these were tales for another day.

. . .

_End of Chapter_

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**Author's Note:  
**

**(1) **As you can see, this chapter was **much** longer than my other ones. There was a lot I needed to cover. In hindsight, every one of my chapters (especially this one) would have to be an extended chapter if in manga form. Either that or Kishi would have to release maybe 15-20 more chapters than the original.

**(2) **Yeah, I didn't make Kakashi Hokage. I don't see the point to be honest. If you look at the original, the only reason Kishi made him Hokage was so people would think he had a big role in _The Last_ movie (LOL). Really, it adds **NOTHING** to the story and I'm a big proponent of chekov's gun, thus decided to have Kakashi do what he logically would've done in the original. I'd like to think my way also addresses how Naruto could be made Hokage despite being so young and inexperienced.

**(3) **Didn't have Sasuke pardoned either. Seems very deus ex machina. I think the argument I have him raise in the chapter explains why.

**(4)** Speaking of deus ex machina, I could see the argument that Sasuke giving back to the tailed beasts constitutes as this, but theoretically, based on what we know about the rinnegan's powers, with enough stress and strain, I'd dare say its feasible! ;)

**(5) **Yeah, I made KibaHina happen. Admittedly, no basis in the canon, but I did feel that if Kishi was ever going to put Naruto with her or Sakura, the other would need some sort of closure. Has Hinata magically forgotten about Naruto? I don't think so, but if anyone can soothe her heart, it's her good friend Kiba!

**(6)** I decided to give an explanation for SasuSaku by strictly using the canon. In the original, as some of you might have realized, there is no basis. She just kind of loves him because love doesn't need a reason, right? To have Sakura love Sasuke for that long without a reason doesn't make too much sense to me. To also have her suddenly fall in love with Naruto without any real closure on her relationship with Sasuke wouldn't make too much sense either IMO.

**(7) **Next time, the final chapter of this fic: The epilogue! Will probably release it in two weeks. We'll see!

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	8. Chapter 700: So Much For An Epilogue

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any rights to the Naruto franchise and this fanfiction has not been written for profit.

* * *

**\- - -So Much For an Epilogue - - -**

Three full years had come and gone since the day Naruto had been installed as Konoha's Hokage. Despite some initial struggles involving various (particularly administrative) facets of the job, he had eventually begun 'getting the hang of it' so to speak. So much so that Tsunade, Kakashi and Iruka were slowly becoming involved in less and less of his major decisions.

But getting used to being Hokage wasn't solely what Naruto had hoped to accomplish. Rather, ever since obtaining the position, he'd promise he'd carry out a new goal during his reign. It was a dream more even greater than becoming Hokage itself; the blond haired shinobi wished to do as Jiraiya and Nagato had set out to do and end the cycle of hatred.

Alas, how does one end the cycle of hatred? The entirety of human history had been perpetuated with hate fueled violence and blood lust. There was not currently a conflict between the five great nations of the world, but history had also been littered with brief ages of peace. What was to stop the current age from faltering as well? Aware of this, Naruto had begun taking his first real steps towards securing peace.

"It's been a while Gaara!", Naruto said, shaking hands with the Kazekage of the sand village.

Alongside Shikamaru, early in the afternoon, the two had just taken their seats at one of the leaf village's outdoor restaurants. The three were sitting at a patio table with an umbrella protruding out of its center.

The red haired Kazekage merrily nodded his head. "With the both of us being as busy as we are these days, it's nice to finally have a moment to drink saké together."

All three shinobi had grown a little taller over the past three years, but Naruto was the only one with any real changes to his wardrobe. He still wore orange pants, but now wore a solid black buttoned vest. In addition, he was now wearing the iconic, HoKage's haori, one similar to his father's design, instead with the words "Sixth Hokage" written in kanji on the back.

A waiter passed by the trio, placing three cups on the table and filling each with sake. The waiter then placed three menus on the table. "Let me know when you're ready to order."

"I'll probably get the usual", the blond shinobi chuckled. "But Gaara and Shikamaru probably need a few minutes."

"As you wish, Lord Hokage", the waiter formally bowed, before walking away.

Gaara glanced at his menu. "I'm not due back in the sand village until tomorrow. Perhaps after the Kage meeting today, you'd accompany me to see that **The Last: Naruto the Play** production I've been hearing so much about."

Both Shikamaru and Naruto glared at Gaara, shocked by his suggestion.

"What? Is it not a good production?"

"Are you kidding me, Gaara? It's like whoever wrote that play never bothered learning a thing about me."

Shikamaru buried his face into the palm of his hand. "There's that love interest they give you. What was her name again? 'Princess Mary Sue'? She spends the entire play knitting Naruto a scarf for some reason . . . even when her little sister is in danger."

Naruto started snickering. "Yeah, and get this. At the end of the play, they have me fighting . . . what was his name again? Jin Eric Villain? They have me fighting him on the moon!"

Gaara let out a light laugh, better understanding the other two shinobi's reactions. "Sorry I asked."

The Nara clan member took a sip of his saké . "If you two do decide to do something time consuming, it'll have to be late. Naruto has important business to handle throughout much of the day.

"That's right! There were some reports you wanted me to immediately know about."

Shikamaru shifted his attention to the Kazekage. "If you don't mind Naruto and I stepping to the side for a few minutes, we'll-"

"No", the Hokage interrupted. "This is part of the reason I called the Kage meeting today. We have nothing to hide from, Gaara. Go on with your report."

"With all due respect, your chief adviser is wise, Naruto. I should not so easily be privy to your village's-"

"It's fine."

Complying with his employer's orders, Shikamaru began. "Lately, our research and development operatives have been detecting spontaneous tremors at the Valley of the End crater. Upon close inspection, they have determined that the shockwaves causing the tremors aren't coming from the ground; the waves appear to be coming out of the rift itself."

Naruto scratched his chin for a few moments, his head and hands now in a thinking posture. "What about the latest set of shadow clones that were sent inside?"

"Nothing. As usual, they're destroyed the instant they touch the rift."

Gaara appeared to be intrigued by the discussion. "Rifts in space and time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that something your jonin, Kakashi Hatake has proficiency in?"

The Nara clan member glanced in Gaara's direction. "You're certainly well informed."

"As the Kazekage, even during times of peace, I'm responsible for insuring that my village is prepared for every possible contingency."

Although other leaders would perhaps take offense to Gaara's remark, Naruto simply laughed it off. "If all goes as planned, you won't need to make those kinds of preparations anymore. Besides, Kakashi lost his sharingan years ago, so it's not something he's currently able to do."

Shikamaru gave a disapproving look. "Naruto! Friend or not, he didn't need to know that."

"It's no big deal. Move on to your next report."

"The rogue ninja: Kabuto Yakushi. Team Ebisu was unable to apprehend him."

Naruto frowned in disappointment. "Oh yeah? That's too bad. I fought Kabuto before myself. I thought for sure Konohamaru would be able to handle him now."

The Nara clan member shook his head. "No, that's not it. As soon as the team reached the confirmed location he had been residing at, all they found was this . . ."

In Shikamaru's hands was a card with the image of a hawk flying under the moon in the night sky.

"The Yoru Society again, eh?"

"Should I send word for Team Ebisu to continue searching for Kabuto? If they can find him, chances are, they'll find the Yoru Society's base of operations as well."

"No. If the Yoru society has captured Kabuto, Orochimaru is sure to not be too far behind. Konohamaru is strong, but not on that level yet. Have Team Ebisu report back. Besides, I get the feeling Yoru knows what it's doing."

"Naruto", the Kazekage interjected. "What's your personal opinion on this Yoru Society group? Surely you have one."

"Well . . . they definitely do a good job rounding up criminals and helping the poor. And the villagers, especially the children, think of them as a group of heroes."

"But they don't act within the scope of the law and issue out their own brand of justice as they see fit", Shikamaru added.

Gaara nodded in agreement. "Our village has similar sentiments, which is why we've so far limited our actions towards gathering intelligence on them."

The Nara clan member sighed. "Let me guess: You've had a hard time gathering information."

"How did you know?", the Kazekage asked.

Naruto laughed aloud. "We haven't found anything either!"

"The information control in their organization is also top notch", Shikamaru remarked. "Of the few members we've apprehended, none of them could give us any useful data."

"We can talk more about this at the Kage meeting today. Is there anything else to report, Shikamaru?"

"Yes. I've prepared a list of candidates for Project Paradigm. You'll find all the relevant paper work on your office desk."

Naruto formed a hinge sign with his hands, only for a shadow clone to appear right next to him. The shadow clone then speedily leaped away, heading towards the Hokage mansion.

"Convenient", Gaara noted, sipping his sake. "What is 'Project Paradigm', if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's an idea Shikamaru and I have been kicking around for a while. If it goes as planned, it'll be a good step towards long term peace. Don't worry. My clone needs a little time to look over some papers, but we'll talk more about it at the Kage meeting today."

"This Kage meeting is certainly shaping up to be highly eventful. I look forward to hearing what you have planned."

The genius shinobi cleared his throat. "Naruto, there's something else you should know. I know today is **Naruto Day**, but you might want hold off on some of the . . . usual festivities."

The young jinchuriki couldn't help but notice his chief adviser's emphasis on the last two words, as if they were related to a problem of some sort. "What's wrong, Shikamaru?"

"We've received word that . . ."

Just then, a group of female shinobi barged onto the scene. Some adults, some teenagers.

"There he is! It's the Lord Hokage!"

Naruto found himself amused at the sight of this. "Gaara. Shikamaru. Go ahead and order on my tab. I'll see you both back at the Kage meeting later."

"Quick, don't let him go away!", another girl shouted.

Two girls hurled themselves towards Naruto from two different angles. Before they could nab him, however, the Hokage swiftly ducked, inadvertently causing both girls to headbutt one another. The leaf ninja then emerged from the chair he had been sitting in.

"Naruto, wait!"

"Relax Shikamaru!", the jinchuriki replied while running away from the restaurant with dozens of kunoichi hot on his trail "Even with all those rules, you know they'll never catch me!"

Shikamaru rubbed his face against his palm. "That's not what I'm worried about."

The red haired Kazekage looked on with astonishment as his friend dashed away. "Why are all those women chasing him?"

"Ah, this is your first time visiting the village on Naruto Day, isn't it? This is one of the many festivities the villagers take part in. Basically, whichever female ninja can tag Naruto gets to go on an all- expense paid date with him to any place in the village and is immediately promoted to chuunin or jonin depending on their current rank."

"Has anyone ever succeeded?"

"As part of the rules, Naruto isn't permitted to do anything besides run and avoid; he can't use any taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, Sage Mode, Sage of Six Paths Chakra or tailed beast chakra. Despite that, in the two years we've had this tradition, no one's been able to even lay a finger on him."

"Speaking of dates, that reminds me. My sister tells me you and her have been-"

Shikamaru sighed. "Your sister sure has a big mouth. Keep it a secret, alright? If my mother found out about it, the questions would be nonstop. And Naruto has been bugging me enough about it as it is."

"As you wish", the Kazekage lightly laughed. "But tell me: Naruto . . . what do you think of him now that he is the Hokage?"

"We don't always see eye to eye. He can be a bit too naive and optimistic at times. But . . . I've never seen a Kage that cares more about the people he serves. He went to great effort to master skills he doesn't have any natural aptitude towards and will spend countless nights without sleep even if it's just to solve one villager's problem. The unyielding love the villagers have for him is well placed if you ask me."

The sand shinobi let out a content smile, recalling the past differences he had with the blond haired leaf ninja. As a former jinchuriki himself, he understood better than most what being Hokage meant to Naruto; it warmed his heart to know that the position was working out well for his friend.

A worried and panicky Iruka suddenly came out of nowhere, quickly approaching the Nara clan member. "You did tell Naruto 'you-know-who' was visiting the village today, right?!"

"I tried to, but he ran off before giving me the chance."

The academy instructor couldn't help but swallow the sudden lump in his throat. ". . . this can't end well."

[. . . . . . .]

High up on a chimney to a multi-story building in the leaf village stood a certain kunoichi, notably from Konoha given the headband tied around the top of her head. The shinobi looked to be 20 years of age, had green eyes, radiant pink hair reaching all the way down to her mid-back. The young woman was donned in a white as snow doctor's coat, black fingerless gloves, sturdy black boots and a stylish red combat dress befitting a kunoichi. She also carried a brown bag strapped to her side.

From the young woman's view, she could see much of the village, including the Hokage mountain. She seemed particularly intrigued by what appeared to be a new addition of the faces carved into the mountain.

"_Not too shabby, Naruto_."

The kunoichi leaped down from atop the chimney she stood, landing in the busy village street below her.

"I, Madara Uchiha have returned to destroy this village once and for all!", a nearby voice shouted.

The young woman was taken aback by these words, swiftly honing in on the place the voice was coming from. Within no time, she found herself in the leaf village town square. It was there that she noticed a big crowd gathered around a large grandiose stage.

On one side of the stage stood someone holding a microphone and dressed up in an obvious paper mache Madara costume. It looked just like the villainous Uchiha responsible for the Fourth Great Shinobi War, although not as he was upon obtaining the Sage of Six Path powers.

The fake Madara continued to speak, this time melodramatically into the microphone. "WHO AMONG YOU WOULD DARE CHALLENGE ME?!"

"I will challenge you!", another voice shouted, this one coming from behind the large crowd.

Many turned their heads, only to notice that someone else in an obvious paper mache costume was nearby. This one was dressed just like the Lord Hokage. As the crowd caught sight of this, they cheered wildly, the fake Naruto politely bowing in response.

"Oh no! The Lord Hokage!", the fake Madara fearfully cried.

The fake Naruto jumped high into the air and descended into the middle of the stage like an angel. Everyone in the audience but the pink haired kunoichi looked on with awe and sparkles in their eyes.

"_Oh please. Am I the only one who sees the wire?"_

"Curse you Lord Hokage! You will not interfere again with my evil schemes!"

"When will you learn, Madara? Your evil schemes are no match for the power of love and peace!"

The fake Madara stomped his foot on a button beneath him. "Let us see how love and peace fairs against my fireball jutsu!"

At that moment, a vent opened in front of the fake Naruto and a full assortment of glitter flew out from within it. The fake Lord Hokage merely took two steps to the side to avoid this barrage.

"Ah ha! Your fireball jutsu has been bested. Now, taste my rasengan of justice!", the fake Naruto said, now holding a clear hand sized water balloon.

"Not the rasengan of justice! Anything but that!"

The fake Hokage rushed towards his nemesis and smashed the water balloon into his face.

"Nooooooooooooo! I am defeated", the fake Madara said before exaggeratedly falling on his back.

Having bested his foe, the fake Lord Hokage theatrically placed one foot upon him and made a peace sign with his right hand. "Once again, the village is safe! You need not fear him any longer!"

At this, the audience clapped and cheered, many demanding an encore. The pink haired kunoichi, however, found herself cringing irrepressibly. This wasn't quite the way she recalled the battle

The young woman had begun to walk away, the Fourth Great Shinobi War reenactment no longer peeking her interest. That was when another young kunoichi, one with a long and blonde ponytail, called out to her.

"Sakura! I'd recognized that pink hair anywhere!"

The pink haired kunoichi turned towards the other woman and waved her hand. "Ino! Long time no see!"

"I see you've grown your hair back out."

"It's not a big deal", Sakura responded, slightly blushing.

"I'll bet", Ino sarcastically remarked. "What are you doing back here anyway?"

"I've hit a snag in my research. I was wondering if I could get Lady Tsunade's opinion on one of my findings."

"Well you're out of luck then. Rumor has it that Lady Tsunade is doing some '_**research**_' of her own again in the hidden Village of the Cloud.", Ino replied, emphasizing and placing air quotes around the word **'**research.' "They say that after the big Kage meeting today, the Raikage is going to go back and assist her with her '_**research**_.'

"What's that supposed to mean?", Sakura asked, a sudden scowl manifesting itself on her face.

"Don't play dumb with me, Sakura. You've been out of the village for three years all so that you can improve your medical ninjutsu skills? Yeah right. You've been out looking for Sasuke all this time, haven't you?"

And like that, the pinked haired medical ninja's scowl disappeared, replaced by an amused grin. "Before I left the village, I'm pretty sure I told you I was seeing Naruto."

Ino found herself caught within a wave of laughter. "Don't . . . try to change the subject with that hilarious joke again."

"It's not a joke though."

"You and Naruto together? Not in a million years!"

Sakura appeared to be puzzled. "What's so strange about that?"

"Well . . . I guess he's sort of handsome now and a lot cooler than he was as a kid", Ino responded, her laughter dying down. "But he's no Sai . . . and definitely no Sasuke. That's for sure."

"Even though he's committed so many sins, I will always think fondly of Sasuke. Him and Kakashi? They're like family to me. But I'm telling you: I'm no longer in love him."

"You can't fool me, Sakura. You've been trying to steal him away from me since we were students at the academy. You must be trying to get me to think you're over him so my guard will be down!"

The pinked haired kunoichi politely shook her head. "Ino, why do you love Sasuke?"

"Are you kidding me? He's the hottest guy I've ever seen. What's not to love about him?"

"What do you love about Sasuke besides the way he looks?"

The blond young woman took a few moments to ponder on her friend's question, vigorously scratching her head for an answer. Before long, she let out a long sigh. "Look Sakura . . . I get what you're trying to say, but love doesn't really need a reason."

"I used to think that. But over these past years, I've had plenty of time to come to a different conclusion. Love isn't that simple. If you're going to love someone, it should be someone who makes you happy. Someone who understands you and is willing to stand by you through thick and thin. Someone who lives for you just as much as you live for them. For me, that someone is Naruto."

"Stand by you, eh?", Ino said, giggling and pointing at something behind her pink haired friend. "Does that include standing by fifty other women as well?"

Sakura turned around, only to spot the Sixth Hokage, in a nearby street, running away from a large group of kunoichi. If that wasn't enough to grab the young woman's attention, the fact that Naruto was smiling and evidently having a good time certainly was.

"C'mon ladies!", the young jinchuriki exclaimed. "You've gotta be quicker than that if you want to win a date with me!"

"Excuse me, Ino, but that's another thing about true love", the Sakura said, gritting her teeth with an overtly forced polite demeanor. Without any further pause, she instantly bolted off in Naruto's direction. "IT PISSES YOU OFF!"

Startled, Ino looked onwards as her friend flew out of her sights. "_Maybe she was telling the truth after all_."

Unaware of his girlfriend being hot on his trail, Naruto continued to jot around the village, as the legion of genin and chuunin females continued to aggressively follow behind him. Many amongst the group didn't just resort to running after the young Hokage. Some set traps, others tried concealing themselves with the transformation jutsu. But no matter how many attempts were made, Naruto easily eluded them.

All while running, Naruto was reminded of his early days with his sensei Kakashi. This very much reminded him of the bell test Kakashi had issued to the team so long ago. Back then, touching those bells seemed impossible; the silver haired jonin was just _**that**_ good. T'was an enticing thought, now being able to do as the master did in his youth.

As the Sixth Hokage continued to jog, he suddenly found himself caught within a smoke bomb. It was then that two raven haired middle aged women leaped inside the smoke in an effort to grab him.

"I got him!", both women yelled simultaneously.

However, as the smoke cleared, the two women found themselves grabbing a hold of each other, with Naruto cheekily standing in front of them.

"Anko? Shizune? Aren't you already jonin? Never knew you two were interested!"

Shizune immediately dismissed the thought. "Don't get the wrong idea. We're just after that all-expense paid free-dinner is all."

Anko smirked deviously. "Then again, you are a grown man now and you've come out cuter than I anticipated. Maybe that's not such a bad idea after all."

"Anko!", Shizune spat.

"What? I'm kidding! Besides, it's not like you have a chance of getting a man any other way."

"For your information, I'm too busy for that sort of thing right now!"

"Busy doing what?"

"Uh . . . look, he's getting away!"

Anko turned her head towards the Hokage, now aware that he had jotted away so quickly that he was nowhere to be seen.

"We can settle this later", Shizune said, the duo once again preparing to give chase.

Though just as they were about to move, a pink flash soared right past them.

"Was that . . . Sakura Haruno?", Anko remarked, her jaw having dropped and her eyes having widened.

Shizune, in similar disarray, simply nodded her head.

Further up the road, Naruto was still sprinting merrily. He took a quick peak behind him, only to notice that none of the girls were in sight. "_Maybe I should slow down a little._"

As the young Hokage slowed down, he sensed someone coming straight at him from behind. "_That didn't take long."_

A pink flash zipped over Naruto's head, standing right before him.

"Not bad!", the young jinchuriki audaciously remarked, not yet looking at the figure in front of him. "But you probably should have tried tagging me . . . from behind?!"

With those last two words, Naruto looked upon this bold shinobi face to face, flabbergasted at who it was. "Sakura-chan? When did you get here?"

"Never mind why I'm here!", the medical ninja snarled, using both hands to grab the Hokage's coat collar and furiously shake him back and forth. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Sakura-chan, you've gotten a lot prettier since I last saw you!'

"You really think . . . . wait a minute, don't change the subject!", the young woman responded, flustered, but still fuming. "You think that just because I'm gone, you can flirt with every tramp under the sun? Is that it?"

Naruto found himself sweating copiously, immediately picturing how one could misinterpret what he was doing. "N-n-no, you've got the wrong the idea."

"I've got the wrong idea, do I? Then I guess I must've imagined you running around town with a big dumb look on your face, telling every girl to try and a win a chance to date you, right?!"

"It was Iruka-sensei's idea. He said it would build morale."

"Build morale? That's the dumbest excuse I've ever heard!"

Numerous other kunoichis drew near the pair, disappointed at the sight. Someone had finally tagged the Lord Hokage it seemed.

"Awe man; all that training for nothing", one of the kunoichis sighed.

"Oh well, there's always next time", another commented.

Still holding Naruto by his coat collar, Sakura turned her head, raised an eyebrow and glared at the group of uninvited guests. "Who said anything about a next time? This guy is officially off limits; now and forever. Got that?"

"That's not how it works!", one of the other women responded. "Just because you got lucky and touched him today doesn't make him yours. You only get one date and a promotion to chuunin or jounin."

Sakura released her apparently now official boyfriend from her grip and turned her full attention to all the other shinobi present. "Listen here you skanks! I'm not going to repeat myself. Stay away from Naruto or else."

"Who are you calling skanks?! You ugly pink cow! Or else what? In case you're as stupid as you are ugly, there's a bunch of us and there's only one of you."

The medical ninja held out her index finger, steadily walking closer towards the group of rivals.

"Sakura-chan, they don't know who they're talking to. Just let them off easy", the Lord Hokage chimed in, fearful of his girlfriend's wrath.

"Shut the hell up!", Sakura countered, steam practically coming out of her head. "Don't think this lets you off the hook. After I'm done here, we're going to continue our conversation."

[. . . . . . .]

On the tree branches of one of the many trees outside of the Hokage's mansion sat a busy Kakashi. The copycat ninja was uncharacteristically hard at work, feverishly writing something on a notepad.

"And then the two passionately kissed under the pouring rain", the silver haired jonin muttered to himself while writing.

A look of dissatisfaction appeared in Kakashi's eyes and he quickly erased the last line he had written. "No . . . too cliché. Needs more subtlety. How about . . . he gazed deeply into her exuberant eyes, affectionately ran his fingers through her silky hair and . . ."

"There you are!" a gruff middle aged man with short brown hair and almond eyes said, walking towards the tree the copycat ninja was sitting in.

The silver haired jonin ceased writing, greeting his visitor by waving one of his hands. "Ah, Yamato! Congratulations on becoming the chief commander of the Anbu black ops"

"To my understanding, it was on your recommendation", Yamato said, politely laughing.

"You've done great work for our village. If anyone can get that unit back into shape, it's you."

Yamato sighed. "Yes, it's unfortunate how Danzo's schemes and influence actually ended up weakening the overall effectiveness of the unit. I'll do everything I can to see to it that the black ops are in tip top shape for future missions. From what I've seen already, Shino Aburame, TenTen Hisagia, Hanabi Hyuuga show a great deal of promise."

"I'm glad to hear that. Naruto has big plans for the future and it's important that we be his pillars of support at every turn."

"Understood. But what about you? Even without your sharingan, you're still very formidable. Why not come back to the black ops?"

"I'm content serving as Naruto's advisor on foreign affairs. Besides, with this sort of job, I now have more time for my other hobbies."

Yamato glanced at the pen and notepad in the copycat ninja's hands. "I never pictured you for a writer, Kakashi."

"With Jiraiya gone, there's no one to draft the next volume of his 'Make Out' series. I figured I would take a shot. Fortunately, Naruto inherited everything belonging to him and Naruto agreed to transfer all rights to the series."

"How's it coming so far?"

"The difference between reading a story and writing one is enlightening to say the least. You have to be careful not to write in a way that sounds repetitive and don't want to risk alienating your readers with overly complicated subplots that you don't intend to immediately explain. You also don't want to write solely for the purpose of entertaining your readers' every whim. Honestly, it's a lot easier to criticize someone else's work than it is to write your own."

"Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you. I'll let you get back to your work."

With that, the new Anbu black ops commander began walking away. As soon as he was out of sight, a bird with a twig in its mouth hovered around the tree Kakashi was sitting in and descended upon a nest resting upon another of its branches. The bird remained perched within its nest for several minutes before flapping its wings again and soaring back into the sky.

Kakashi looked around the area, making certain that no one was watching him. He then swiftly placed his hand in the bird's nest and grabbed the single twig the bird had been carrying. Upon closer examination, the silver haired jonin confirmed the twig not to be a twig, but a small capsule identical to a twig. As he opened the capsule, he pulled out a small rolled up piece of paper that was about the same size as paper found inside fortune cookies. On the paper itself was nothing other than the number "3."

"_And here I thought I'd actually get the whole day to work on the novel."_

[. . . . . . .]

Elsewhere, Sakura was swatting accumulated dust off her hands. "That takes care of that."

What was earlier a peaceful roadway now looked like a miniature war torn battlefield, with several craters in the ground and multiple bandaged kunoichis trudging away from the scene at a slow pace. Evidently, only a few girls bothered engaging the pink haired medical ninja. The rest presumably ran away upon witnessing her monstrous strength.

"They're lucky I only used one finger and took the time to heal them afterwards."

"I'll say!", the young jinchuriki laughed. "I can tell just by looking at you. You've gotten a lot stronger over these past three years, haven't you?"

Sakura proceeded to walk back towards her boyfriend, still fuming. "I'm not done yet, Naruto."

The blonde Hokage swallowed the lump in his throat, suddenly recalling the reason this woman was so angry in the first place.

However, what came afterward wasn't a punch, kick or any violence of the sort. Rather, the medical ninja threw her arms around the young man as she had done after the great battle with Nagato.

"I missed you", Sakura whispered.

Naruto appeared to be a little surprised, having become accustomed to being pounded into the ground or launched into the air as payment for his foolishness. But as the moment continued, the Hokage returned the embrace, tightly wrapping his arms around the woman he cherished for so long. The two stayed like this for a full minute before finally letting go.

"Now, as the winner of your stupid contest, which you shall never host again, I demand you take me on a date this instant."

"Where to? We can go any place you want!"

The pink haired kunoichi rubbed her chin for a few moments, pondering on what she was in the mood for. And then the thought hit her. "Ichiraku's Ramen!"

"Sakura-chan, I know I hardly had any money in the old days, but now, I can afford to go to any place in the village. We don't have to eat ramen if you don't want to."

The young woman giggled innocently and began walking along the street, presumably towards the renowned ramen restaurant. "No, I have a taste for ramen today."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, having expected his companion to instantly jump on his offer to eat someplace else. Nonetheless, despite years of maturity, he loved the taste of ramen every bit as much as when was a child. Rather than question the medical ninja about her appetite, he instead began walking closely alongside her.

"Say Naruto . . . is it really a good idea for us to be walking out in the open like this? It's not like the whole village knows that I'm the winner."

"It shouldn't be a problem. As long as we're walking close like this, the remaining kunoichi's will probably put two and two together."

"That's good to know. I'd hate to have to beat up more floozies who legitimately don't know we're a couple. Speaking of which, did it ever occur to you to just tell everyone we were dating?"

"I tried, but that didn't stop many of the girls in the village from constantly flirting with me. Iruka figured we could kill two birds with one stone by motivating female genin and chuunins to work harder while having them focus their efforts to win me over all into one day."

Sakura slammed her right fist into her left palm. "Hmph. As long as I'm here, you won't have to worry about that."

The young jinchuriki let out a light laugh. "I don't think I've ever seen you get this jealous before."

The kunoichi's face turned beet red. "W-w-what? I'm not jealous! I just don't like seeing you waste time on nonsense is all."

"Whatever you say, Sakura-chan", Naruto said, playfully winking an eye. "By the way, I've been hearing a lot of rumors about you. Does the Cherry Blossom Healer ring a bell?"

Just hearing the words out aloud made the young woman sigh and bury her face in the palm of her hand. "Don't tell me that name is actually sticking?"

"Word is spreading fast about your adventures. Curing a cursed village from an incurable disease and stopping a Jashin cult from taking over the hidden village of the Stone."

"All of that has been incidental to me trying to find a way to cure that chakra scar of yours. I had come back here to talk to Lady Tsunade about some clues I found recently, but from what Ino tells me, she's in the Land of Iron."

The Hokage frowned, disappointed at his companion's implication. "So you won't be staying?"

Sakura answered, tenderly caressing one of her companion's cheeks and looking warmly into his eyes. "I'm afraid not, but I'd like to stay the night . . . with you."

"Sakura-chan . . ."

"Good afternoon Lord Hokage! Hello Sakura!", said a dark haired young man with pale skin. "It's good to see you again in the village."

"Damnit Sai!", Naruto growled. "Why don't you ever read the situation?"

"All the books I've read consistently insist that it's polite to greet people you are on good terms with. Am I mistaken?"

"Not at all, Sai", Sakura said, lightly elbowing the young jinchuriki in the ribs. "It's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Rather well. Lately, I've had much more time for my paintings. Ino thinks I should open an art gallery and has even agreed to help me manage it."

The medical ninja raised an eyebrow. "Ino said that?"

"Indeed. She's been most helpful to me lately. Even as we speak, she's heading to the bank to acquire the loan we need for the art gallery."

"Have you and Ino done anything else?", Sakura asked inquisitively. "Like stroll the park together, watch the sunset, hold hands . . . that sort of thing."

"Well . . . I don't see why we would do any of that", the pale skinned man replied, scratching his head in confusion.

"Are you and Ino . . . more than friends?", the kunoichi asked, trying hard to be subtle.

"Ino and I are not just friends. We are good friends."

"Are you in love with Ino?", Naruto bluntly blurted.

Sakura again lightly elbowed her blonde companion in the ribs. "Naruto!"

"What? That's what you wanted to ask him."

"You don't just ask people that out of the blue!"

"Ah. To answer your question: No", Sai answered, not the slightest hint of conflict on his face.

"What the heck is wrong with you, Sai?", Sakura snapped. She had known Ino's situation all too well, having previously been in her shoes with Sasuke. "Ino is busting her ass for you, even as we speak, but you're not even a little interested?"

"Ino is a good woman, but no, I am romantically interested in another."

"A-nother?!". Sakura and Naruto exclaimed simultaneously.

"Indeed. I read about this in a book, but whenever you feel . . . I believe the words were 'warm and fuzzy about someone, that means you're in love with them."

"Who is this other person?", the Hokage asked.

"Shizune Katō."

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!", both Naruto and Sakura exclaimed in unison, this time their eyes bulging and their mouths agape.

Sai scratched his head in uncertainty "Is there a problem?"

"Are you kidding me?!", Sakura growled. "She's 14 years older than you!"

"Yes, but in a book I read about May-December romances, it says . . ."

"Forget the book!", the Sixth Hokage interrupted.

"Honestly, if this were a book, the author would have to be out of his mind to put you and her together", the medical ninja added.

"But the love I have for Shizune is real. No different than the love you have for Naruto."

Sakura glared at the pale skinned man skeptically. "How did you know that? "

"There's this book I read about Tsunderes and it said . . ."

"On second thought, I don't want to know!", the pink haired young woman interjected, noticeably flustered.

"My apologies, but I must be going", said Sai, politely waving his hand and walking away. "After Ino is finished with her business at the bank, I promised to go over the interior design of the art gallery with her. It was nice seeing you both."

Naruto nudged his girlfriend. "Should we . . . say something to Ino?"

"She's a bit hard-headed . . . like I used to be. It's best she figures this out for herself."

With that distraction out of the way, the couple continued strolling alongside one another on their way to Ichiraku's Ramen. As they walked to the restaurant, they also walked down memory lane, discussing all the good times they had together, not just as team 7, but even after Sasuke had left the village. To talk about these events now, with the benefit of hindsight, brought the two many laughs.

Sakura was particularly fascinated about Naruto having met his mother, Kushina. The more the pink haired kunoichi heard about this woman with a fiery temper, the more she wished she had had the opportunity to meet her. Hearing about Kushina's request that Naruto "find a girl like her as opposed to picking a weird" especially put a bright smile on her face.

Naruto couldn't believe that Yamato had known the truth about Sakura all along. The Sixth Hokage was glad to know that his love had shared his feelings somewhere deep down for a long time, but was mentally kicking himself in the shin for not having figured it out himself as well as having woken up before Yamato could finish talking.

It wasn't long until the two finally entered the famous restaurant. Naruto approached the bar table and chivalrously pulled out a bar stool for Sakura to sit in. As she seated herself, he scooted her towards the table and then took a seat of his own.

Teuchi Ichiraku, and his daughter, Ayame came out of the kitchen, both appearing to be ever so cheerful.

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite customer, the Lord Hokage, Naruto", said Teuchi, welcoming his two patrons. "And do my eyes deceive me? He's finally brought a lady friend."

"Dad, that's Sakura Haruno. She used to come here all the time."

"Sakura, is that you? You've grown into a lovely young woman."

The medical ninja smiled at the compliment. As one who had once been insecure about her appearance, she could listen to comments like these all day. "Thank you."

"Wait a minute, Naruto.", Ayame teasingly remarked. "This isn't another one of your friendly dates is it?"

The young jinchuriki grinned from ear to ear. "Nope!"

The ramen waitress squealed in delight. "Way to go!"

"This calls for a celebration!", Teuchi shouted while placing two steaming bowls of distinct ramen onto the bar table.

Naruto mouth salivated as he sniffed the aroma coming from his bowl. "Is this what I think it is?"

"That's right!", Ayame boastfully nodded. "It wasn't easy, but we finally mastered that recipe you told us about. I present to you our Ichiraku style: Ramengan!

The pink haired kunouichi winced at the utterance of the title for the new dish, but the Hokage eyes sparkled and awe. "That has to be the coolest name ever!"

Sakura took a good whiff of her bowl, only for her mouth to begin salivating as well. "_It's the exact same dish Naruto prepared three years ago!_"

Naruto picked up his chopsticks, preparing to prod at the ramen in bowl. Though before he could take a bite, he noticed Sakura, out of the corner of his eye, uncharacteristically devouring the contents of her bowl. Before the young jinchuriki had even tasted his dish, Sakura had finished all of hers."

"More please!", the medical ninja requested, holding her bowl out with one hand.

"Uh . . . sure", Teuchi responded, befuddled at the young woman's appetite.

Sakura began her second helping, devouring the contents of her bowl at the same pace she had devoured the first. Naruto, still not having touched his food, continued to watch his girlfriend's movements with astonishment.

"Pssst . . . Naruto", Teuchi whispered mischievously. "You might want to hold off on taking her here too often. At the rate she's going, she'll need a wedding dress Chouji's size."

A thought of the pink haired kunoichi being as big as Chouji instantly came to mind. A thought the young man found to be quite disturbing. "Yikes. Good point"

"I heard that", Sakura irritably mumbled, still chewing her food. "We've only just started dating. It's a way too early to be talking about marriage, especially if you're going to say things like that!"

Beads of sweat appeared on the young Hokage's face! "I was only kidding!"

As the medical ninja finished her second bowl, she sighed in content and manifested a cheerful smile. "Shinachiku."

"Shinachi-what?", Naruto asked, perplexed by the medical ninja's sudden and random statement.

"Shinachiku. Our son's name; lets call him Shinachiku."

Upon hearing this, Naruto, Teuchi and Ayama all face-faulted to the floor.

Naruto immediately got back up. To say he was shocked by his girlfriend's comment would be an understatement. "Uh . . . Sakura-chan, we have never even . . . wait, how do you even know it'll definitely be a boy?"

To which Sakura responded, still smiling. "Because I'm his mother."

[. . . . . . .]

Somewhere in a far distant land, several miles underground laid a series of gargantuan caverns. Within these caverns rested an isolated city of sorts, cut off from the rest of the world. Despite being underground, the city was well lit and was populated with thousands of people, seemingly unaffected by the unusual environment.

Like the five great hidden villages, this city appeared to have its fair share of shinobi. Each was masked and donned in a jet black colored shinobi shōzoku. In addition, each shinobi wore a headband with the symbol of hawk wings imprinted into them.

Dozens of boats were docked at the edge of the city where a massive body of water was present. The water flowed from an adjoining cavern, presumably used as transportation in and out of the caverns, though it was unclear how anyone could reach the surface.

The architecture throughout the city, however, was vastly different than that of the architecture in the mainstream villages. As opposed to Japanese inspired housing, they greatly resembled Victorian era homes. Even the roads themselves were different, being entirely comprised of cobblestone. At the very center of the city was a grand Victorian era castle with large doors at the entrance. Two of the city's shinobi vigilantly stood guard at the front, both armed with crossbows.

Deep within the castle itself, there was a grand throne room with a glorious throne to match. Above the throne hanged a banner looking precisely like the card Shikamaru had shown Naruto earlier; it had the image of a hawk flying under the moon in the night sky.

At that time, there was an individual sitting on the throne wearing a jet black hawk mask covering everything on his head and face besides his mouth and eyes; the pupils in his eyes were also black in color. He was also donned in a menacing black cloth cape, black cloth pants and black leather boots. Although his cape had been covering most of his upper body, a dark blue high collared shirt could barely be seen beneath.

As this mysterious man continued to sit on his throne, three additional individuals walked into the room. Two of the three individuals were the city's shinobi, but the third was a young woman with long and spiky red hair. The woman had fair skin, crimson eyes, wore brown glasses and was donned in a sleeveless black dress.

"Lord Hawk!", the red haired woman formally shouted. "Your guest awaits outside the castle as ordered."

"Good", the man on the throne responded. "You two show him in while I discuss matters with Karin."

The two city-shinobi obediently nodded the heads and proceeded to exit the room. Karin, however, approached the man sitting on the throne, her demeanor growing informal and flirtatious as soon as the two shinobi were gone.

The young woman amorously ran her finger down the masked man's arm. "Are you that impatient to get me alone? After a night like last night, a girl can hardly blame you. Maybe we could . . ."

"If you have time to thinking about such things, you have time to be briefing me on your progress for the operation we discussed earlier", the masked man nonchalantly replied.

Karin sighed. "Always such a tease when you're working. What is a girl to do? I'm sure you'll change your tune later."

"Has our ambassador in the leaf village received his orders?"

"Yes. Jugo informs me that the Konoha ambassador is cleaning up that unsightly mess under the Sixth Hokage's nose even as we speak. As ordered, he'll ship one of them back to us for questioning as soon as he's finished."

"While he's at it, have him send a copy of all the data Konoha has collected in regards to that hole in the sky at the Valley of End. Our guest might find it useful."

"That's assuming he's willing to comply with your offer."

"He doesn't have a choice."

The two city-shinobi re-entered the throne room, this time accompanying none other than the infamous legendary sannin, Orochimaru.

"Leave us", the masked man on the throne ordered, glaring at the two shinobi who had escorted Orochimaru into the room.

Karin glared into this snake loving fiend's eyes, finding herself stepping back towards her masked leader for support. Despite no longer serving under this villain, she still feared him with every ounce of her being; all too often in the past, she had seen firsthand the evils he was capable of. During the Great Shinobi War, she at least had the comfort of knowing that he was a temporary ally. The same couldn't be said at the moment.

"Karin, I'm hurt", Orochimaru remarked, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Why are you so reticent all of the sudden? I'd never do anything to harm you."

The masked man glared at his subordinate indifferently. "Karin, do not lose your composure."

"Forgive me, Lord Hawk", the red haired woman replied, doing her best to pull herself together.

The snake sannin gazed around the room with wonder, appreciating the craftsmanship that went into its design. "My my my, Hawk. This is quite the organization you've put together here. In such a short time, you not only put together your own militia, but you even have your own villagers. I did my best to look around as I was being escorted into your city here, but I couldn't find even a single beggar on the streets, much less any hint of criminal activity. It's as if you've created your own personal idyllic society. But this isn't the limit to your ambitions, is it . . . Sasuke Uchiha?"

The masked man on the throne was unresponsive. If there were any surprise towards Orochimaru's deduction, there certainly wasn't any visible hint of it.

"What is your real aim, I wonder. What do you hope attain with this Yoru Society of yours? Or are simply trying to play hero? To enforce some naïve and misguided sense of justice? No no, that's not the Sasuke I know; it's not the Sasuke I trained. There's always something underneath the underneath so to speak. After all, it's how you succeeded in betraying me. Even me being here is all part of some greater scheme, isn't it?"

"You are correct", the mask man responded. "For the past three years now, you've been on the run, Orochimaru. You've been unable to maintain any base of operations long enough to elude the five great hidden villages. In the past, you easily had the power to do this, but with Konoha having becoming so powerful with the addition of its new Hokage, it's too dangerous. As opposed to conducting your precious research, you've been to having to run like a scared dog. But this is only the beginning. Not only is Naruto immeasurably powerful, but the people around him are becoming powerful as well. Your right-hand, Kabuto Yakushi, once feared and renowned in many circles, would've surely been awaiting interrogation in a leaf village holding cell by now, if not for my cloud village ambassador's hasty interference. In light of your troubling circumstances, I have an offer for you."

The snake Sannin had a conceited smirk on his face "Do you now? And what sort of offer does the great and righteous Yoru Society have for a renowned criminal?"

"On the outskirts of this city is an estate equipped with a state of the art laboratory. Kabuto is currently waiting there. You will have access to nearly any resource you can think of within reason. However, you will remain in this city at all times under my protection, you will live under my laws and you will not so much as touch a hair on anyone here."

"Supposing I am interested in your offer, what does the great Hawk want in exchange?"

Karin walked up to Orochimaru and handed him a file with several documents inside. The snake Sannin promptly opened the file, fascinated by the information inside.

"You will work on that project and any other project I assign to you. You will continue to do so until I am no longer interested in your services."

"Tempting, but you're familiar with my work. You should know I prefer . . . live test subjects."

"You will be given access to a limited pool of criminals I've deemed worthy of the death penalty."

"Tell me, Sasuke, what's stopping me from leaving this strong hold of yours and bargaining away its location in exchange for refuge with one of the great villages? I'm sure they'd also be interested in knowing your true identity."

Even in the face of threats, the masked man remained ever nonchalant. "If you think you can leave this room, much less this city, without me allowing it, then by all means . . ."

All of the sudden, Orochimaru found himself sweating. This feeling . . . it was one the snake Sannin hadn't truly felt in ages; it was . . . terror. In a split second, there was something about this man, something so dreadful, so intimidating, so outright deadly, that one's intuition made it clear not to so much as trifle with him. Orochimaru felt as if he were a snake gazing upon a tsunami. To think there actually existed someone in the world that could not only oppose this masked man, but defeat him as well. The thought was truly maddening.

Orochimaru quickly regained his self-control, not wishing to expose his fear, much less lose sight of his own ambitions. For now, it was best to play along with his former student's demands. "Very well, I will accept your offer."

"Good. Suigetsu, show our guest to his new residence."

At that time, a young man with white hair tinted blue and shark like teeth leaped down from above, apparently having hidden himself well on the ceiling beforehand. This man was donned in a black sleeveless shirt and black cargo pants. He was also wielding two twin katanas.

As the katana wielding shinobi touched the floor, he held both of his swords inches away from Orochimaru's throat. "What a pain in the ass. I was really hoping you'd be stupid enough to turn us down. I've been itching to chop you into little pieces for a long time. Guess I gotta wait until you try to double cross us."

The snake Sannin boastfully laughed aloud. "Suigetsu, I'm happy to see that you're as spirited as ever. You've even gotten a little stronger, haven't you? If I were you, I'd be thankful to have someone like Sasuke watching over you. Had he not been here, I'd get the joy of dissecting you again. I'm curious to see how much you've evolved since last time."

"What did you just say?", Suigetsu snarled.

"Oh dear. It seems your brain isn't the only faculty to have grown flaccid. Has your hearing left you too?"

"Laugh all you want, bastard, but the minute you betray us, which we all know you will, you're mine!"

[. . . . . . .]

An hour had passed since Naruto and Sakura's date at Ichiraku's ramen and the two had just made their way back to the Hokage mansion. The Kage meeting was designated to take place inside the conference room and start within the next three minutes. The two made their way next to the room's door, content with chatting a little bit more before the meeting started.

"So I guess that makes me a jonin now, right?", the medical ninja remarked with amusement. "But in a village where a genin can become Hokage, something tells me the title doesn't mean as much as it used to."

"Most people don't feel that way", the jinchuriki replied, grinning and scratching the back of his head. "But Konohamaru? He refuses to take the chuunin exam. Says he's going to do exactly what I did."

"That sounds like him. But in such a peaceful period, do we even still need the chuunin exam?"

"What do you mean?"

"Chuunin. Jonin. These ranks are given to shinobi assigned to handle highly dangerous tasks. Tasks that usually result in having to deal with enemy ninja. On that mission we had in the Land of Waves years ago, it became an A-ranked mission due to Zabuza Momochi and Haku becoming involved. But times are a bit more peaceful than back then. For the first time in history, we have all five kages from all five great hidden villages actively working together. That says alot, even to the smaller hidden villages. In times like these, there's really not much need for higher ranking shinobi."

Naruto shook his head. "No, it's not that simple. Back during the academy days, I didn't care much about all the lectures that had nothing to do with fighting. I thought they were boring and pointless. I thought all I needed to be a good Hokage was good ninjutsu and taijutsu. I couldn't have been more wrong. Since becoming Hokage, I had Iruka-sensei tutor me on the world's history. This time, I paid attention. And one thing I've come to understand is that there's never been guaranteed peace. The world has had many peaceful eras, but war and conflict always found their back. If we don't learn from the past, we're doomed to repeat it."

"But Naruto, you're talking about achieving something no society has ever done. Shouldn't you be content keeping the lands peaceful throughout your lifetime? Eventually, you and I are going to die and we'll have no say in what transpires in the next era."

"Sakura, you said you are Shinachiku's mother, right? Well I'm his father. And as his father, it's my job to do everything I can to not only protect everything throughout my lifetime, but his as well. To do that, I'm going to find a way to keep everlasting peace."

The pink haired kunoichi sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. He'll be this stubborn too, won't he?"

"Maybe", Naruto laughed. "But luckily, he'll be just as sharp as his mother."

"And just as charming as his father, I hope", Sakura remarked, affectionately leaning in towards her companion.

His lips melted into hers, his arms wrapped around her waist, her arms wrapped around his neck, their eyes tightly shut, their bodies pressed close together. Three years apart, three years of built up tension, much being relieved.

But alas, the Kage meeting was about to start. They'd have to save much of their reunion for later. The pair broke apart, the Sixth Hokage pecking his love on the forehead before treading into the conference room. The medical ninja blushingly smiled as she watched her love walk away.

Naruto entered the room, noting that all the Kages and their right-hand men/women were present, sitting at a five sided table with ten chairs respectively. Gaara and Temari, representing the hidden village in the sand. A and Darui, representing the village hidden village in the clouds. Mei and Chōjūrō, representing the hidden village in the mist. Ōnoki and Kurotsuchi, representing the hidden village in the stone. And lastly, Shikamaru, who was sitting in the chair next to the one at the head of the table, representing the village hidden in the leaf.

The Sixth Hokage proceeded to sit himself in the seat next to his chief adviser's. "Welcome Everyone!"

[. . . . . . .]

Meanwhile, at the Valley of the End, where a massive crater now stood due to the events three years ago, at the perimeter of the crater stood a sizable fence, going all the way around. **Restricted Area** signs were posted all along the fence. At the epicenter of the crater were a series of tents and machinery. A great deal of leaf ninja were present, many wearing goggles and labcoats.

For a week now, at the first second of every hour, the ground would shake. Sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for a full minute. All of the personnel present were constantly gathering data on this strange phenomena, attempting to better understand the cause of it. They knew the shockwaves were being produced by the rift in the sky. Alas, there had not yet been any indication of a solid answer.

It was just about time for the ground to shake again. Those present stood around, awaiting the opportunity to gather more data. Just as the clock hit three on the hour, the ground did not shake. No shockwaves came about. The scientists processing data were a bit befuddled by what had just transpired, wondering if the tremors they had been experiencing throughout the week was just an anomaly.

But then it happened. Out from the rift in the sky came a thick black mist. By the second, the mist was expanding wider and wider.

One of the leaf ninjas in the area, against his better judgment and against the warnings of others, approached the growing mist. He touched the strange gaseous substance, but felt nothing. Seeing this, other ninjas also began touching it, but most were at least cautious enough hold their breath in case the mist carried some kind of toxin.

Just then, at the edge of the crater stood a handsome young man with pale skin, shaggy white hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a white, high-collared ceremonial kimono with a yellow sash tied over his right shoulder and a black sash around his waist. Beneath his robes, he wore black fingerless gloves, long black pants, and shinobi sandals.

The young man observed the leaf ninjas from behind the fence up high and spoke in the most kind and gentle voice. "Rejoice mortal men and women! Lord Jashin has bestowed upon you all a kind and gracious gift today; he has granted you the gift of nothingness; rejoice knowing your meaningless lives need not tread any further."

He stretched his hand out into the air, sincerely smiling. "Book of the End: Verse 5: And then there were none."

As these words came out of the young man's mouth, horrendous screams of pain and suffering echoed throughout the area. The mist had covered everything within crater, thus whatever was transpiring could not be seen. Nonetheless, the dark mist remained in the area for a little longer until there were no more screams. It was then that the strange gaseous substance began to vanish.

As soon as the inside of the crater was visible again, just about everything below was still intact. The tents, the machinery, both present. However, the leaf shinobi, the personnel . . . only their clothes and skeletons remained.

And just like that, just as one story came to an end, a new story began. Rather than epilogue, twas the prologue to a new and enticing tale to be told at another time.

. . .

_To Be Continued_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**(1) **And this chapters ends the fic. Sorry it took longer to upload than others, but I've been extra busy lately. I realized I added a bunch of new subplots, but those are to be resolved in sequel fics (assuming I get the opportunity to get around to writing them). Overall, I'm content with the final product. Whether I get to write the sequel, the main point of these new plot threads is that there's always going to be something for Naruto and the gang to resolve. This isn't just the case in fiction, but in life in general. Does the grass ever permanently stay cut?

**(2) **I had commissioned Silver Queen from deviantart make an image of what my Naruto and Sakura look like. The cover art reflects what they look like in this chapter as far as my canon is concerned.

**(3)** Thanks for all the feedback (positive and negative feedback). I'm sorry some readers feel my second chapter was 'out of tone' with the manga. I strongly disagree, but apologize for letting you down. Another reader expressed disappointment in me not killing Sasuke off. Sorry. I see where you're coming from, but I don't think his death adds anything to the story. If anything, it invalidates much of part 2. Naruto promised to bring him back and Naruto always keeps his word. Also, 'Lord' is the honorific equivalent to '_sama_' by the way. Sorry if that threw some people off.

**(4) **I had initially intended to include a scene with Lee, Tenten, Chouji and Killer Bee, but I think it'll be more appropriate in the next fic, again assuming I get to it. Otherwise, I think I wrapped up just about every noteworthy thing in the manga to the extent one is able to within eight chapters. There are a lot of other things, but that would require me rewriting the last 250 chapters, LOL.

**(5) **My description for the not-new character at the end of this chapter had came straight out the Naruto wikia. Feel free to guess his name in the comments, assuming it isn't obvious! ;)

**(6) **It was fun guys! Glad you all gave me the chance to write this fic. I'll admit that I mainly wrote it for myself as my own farewell to the series, disappointed with the original ending, but I'm happy some people got some closure out of it as well.


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